Playing Word Games

 

   I went downstairs yesterday to join some of the gals to play                                                       "What's in a Word"

I have always loved doing crossword puzzles and now I play wordscape on my kindle so this is right down my alley.

                 Yesterday we chose our names for the WORD.

We got 92 different words out of one girls name and 72 out of mine. And, I didn't even get simple things like 'it' and 'an'. It's just amazing what you can find within your own name.

                            We used the entire name - 
     two given names, the maiden name and married name.

You ought to try it. I'd love to hear how you came out with it. 

Let's Party - It's Mardi Gras

Let's Party!!

Eat lots of food, sing and dance in the streets, wear our Mardi Gras beads. 

Did you bake a cake with a baby inside?

No, not a real baby. A tiny plastic one and whomever gets that piece of cake with the baby in it ... I think they get a prize or the cake or something. I've never even had Mardi Gras cake!

But, it sound like fun. 

Did you know that Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday?

It's the last night that you supposedly can eat all the fatty food you wish before you fast for Lent.

I don't fast for Lent so that doesn't work for me. 

I did have a huge juicy Whopper and Fries yesterday for lunch. 

Does that count?

Here's a wee bit of history.

I'm from Alabama originally and I knew that Mobile has a Mardi Gras celebration and was the first to celebrate Mardi Gras.

New Orleans is the place you think of, though, isn't it?

On March 2, 1699, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville arrived at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans, and named it "Pointe du Mardi Gras" when his men realized it was the eve of the festive holiday. Bienville also established "Fort Louis de la Louisiane" (which is now Mobile) in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated America's very first Mardi Gras.

                                             How about that! 

With Google you can learn something new every day... or every minute if you don't have anything else to do. 

I'm a Kid Again

I am a kid again, filled with wonder at the white world outside ...

                                     and wishing I had someone to have a snowball fight with!! 

                       There's something magical about the snow, 
like God waved a big wand and turned the world silent with white. In truth, He did. 

Have a great weekend, my friends... and stay safe!

A Bird-watching Adventure

                                    I've been on a bird-watching adventure.

My granddaughter and her family live on backwater next to the Chesapeake Bay and every winter the Tundra Swans migrate to that area. I'd never seen a swan.. well, I did see a Mute Swan once in Boston but... that was it.

So, when she said she'd love for her mom and me to come for an overnighter we said yes. That way we would be there when the swans come in with the morning tide.

I woke up and immediately start slinging some clothes on. I was scared that those birds would decide to just up and fly away before I could get out there with my camera.

But, they were there and we spent the next couple hours enjoying the sight and putting our cameras to good use!

Following are some of the pictures we took with an explanation with each.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did getting to see them in person.
                                             
 Here they come... swimming down the creek toward the dock.

We saw two groups of about 30 in each group.  Swans mate for life. So, I am assuming that these two are a 'couple'. 

A swan sticks his head underwater so he can eat whatever he can find. This one, the water is dripping off his beak.

This is the best shot I got. We could not leave her porch so had to use the zoom a lot. If we had started getting closer they would have left. Scaredy cats birds!!

This one is either exercising his wings or about to take off. 

My granddaughter goes down to the dock every morning and scoops up corn to fling it into the water so that the swans may eat. She feeds them 3 bucketfuls every day. I'd hate to have her 'corn' bill!

We also saw some Hooded Mergansers, other ducks, Canadian Geese, plus a mixture of songbirds. The robins have appeared in her yard... do you think Spring may be soon? After a mild winter we are supposed to get snow tonight! UGH

And, his fellow was beside the road when we went to lunch.

And, a first for me.. a Sharp Shin Hawk (no picture)

We ate at the Coach House Tavern in Cape Charles. 

We girls enjoyed our outing together.

I have another couple of trips planned in the near future.

I'll be taking you along with me on those, as well.

I'm a big fan of The Homicide Hunter

My grandson came to take me to lunch. I love meatloaf and Mondays are meatloaf day at Derl'z here in Suffolk. So, that's where we headed. 

We walk in. The place is nearly empty but at one table there sits Joe Kenda and his wife, Kathy. 

I try to act nonchalant, sneak a peep or two while I am eating and finally get my courage up. I have been wanting to meet Joe Kenda ever since I found out that the Kendas had moved near me from their home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

But, I'm shy... I get the waitress to ask him if he'll agree to a picture and here he came, big grin on his face. "Come on, Mama, let's get our picture made."  (he's just about 10 years younger than me so I am not old enough to be his Mama. I think he thought my grandson was my son. I'll take that.)

"hey," he says. "I have something for you. It's out in the car."

It's a picture of himself that he autographs and hands to me.

I figure he'll disappear now. He seems like such an all-business kind of cop on television. But, he stood there for over half an hour talking, telling the funniest stories. I don't know when I have laughed so much or so hard. 

I told him I was sad that this was Homicide Hunters last season.

Guess what!

He's already taping a new series that will start airing in the Fall. I am one happy gal.

Oh, you don't know Joe Kenda? Forgive me. I just thought EVERYONE did. 😁

He's been the star of Homicide Hunter on ID-TV for nine seasons. 

I became a big fan about half way into the series but I soon caught up with reruns! 

He is just the most down to earth, funny, friendly guy you'd ever want to meet. His wife came over to our table, too, with her hand outstretched to say hello and that she was on her way to buy groceries. 

I wish I could hang out with them more but I bet a lot of people have that same wish. 

I'm just happy to have spent that 30 or 40 minutes with him. 

Happy Valentine's Day

                         To all my wonderful blogging friends... 

            I send you a Happy Valentine's Day greeting.

                    You hold a special place in my heart. 

Lunchtime Mixup

On our schedule today was a speaker from a Medical Transport company and they promised lunch!!

                               Who wants to miss out on that?

    We listened to their spiel and watched a short video with the promise of Chic-fil-a to follow.

                  It didn't come... we waited....it still didn't come.

I don't know who put the order in but they called the wrong Chic-fil-a and by that time we all are starving. Have you ever seen a bunch of hungry senior citizens? They can get pretty wild!

              So, ever who was making the food arrangements called a barbeque place instead.

Then a different Chic-fil-a arrives with sandwiches, chips, cookies and drinks for everyone!

                    We are in hog heaven. Oh, maybe that's chicken heaven.

              We were about through eating all that yummy food when here comes the barbeque!!

      We really got a treat today.. Two meals all for listening to a speaker! I like that arrangement! 

A Snake Tale

              It's about time for another story from my past

When I was small we lived out in the country. It was before 1940 so you know the deal... a well for our water, an outhouse for other needs, no electricity, laundry done in a tin tub out in the yard etc. etc. etc.

Here I am with my Mama and Sister.

One summer it was awfully hot and didn't rain for weeks. Our well just about went dry. Laundry was stacking up so Mama said she'd take the tub and dirty clothes down to the creek. She dipped enough water out of the creek and proceeded to wash our things on a rub board. When she had them all washed and rinsed, she needed to take the wet clothes back to the house to hang them on the clothesline so that they would dry.

She couldn't manage carrying all those clothes and me, too, so she stripped my clothes off and put me in the tub of rinse water to play while she was gone. It wasn't far, she could keep an eye on me.

So, I am sitting there playing (and cooling off) in the water and I see something coming toward me in the grass. I HATE snakes, scared to death of them. And, it was a snake alright. Headed right for my tub.

I would have been perfectly safe but I didn't know that, not at age 4 or 5. So, I jumped out of the tub and ran toward the house, stark-naked and dripping wet. Mama sure was surprised to see me coming, yelling my head off "Snake, snake."

                                         I still hate snakes!

God Gave Us The Moon

Preparing for bed last night, I went to the window to close my drapes. While there, I peeked out and saw the most beautiful moon, soft clouds floating over it.

I walked out onto the balcony and stood there shivering,  just blown away by how much beauty I was seeing. The calmness, the pond still, not even a frog croaking, the wind finally quieted down and I just turned my face skyward and said, 

    "Thank you, God, for all the beauty you have put in this world." 

            I felt so blessed to be a tiny witness to His greatness. 

I know that my camera does not make good moon pictures. But, I tried anyway. 

It's Friday! And, a Wet One at That

                We have had some rain. I think the whole east coast is floating away. 

I woke up this morning to what I thought was someone knocking on my door. Nah... it was the wind!

It was 9 ... yes, I slept in. I usually don't do that but I was so tired early last evening so I slept... one hour... woke up and then couldn't go back to sleep. 

                      So, I lay and looked at cute things on YouTube on my tablet. 

We had an activity committee meeting today. They've always had coffee for the residents in the community room. Every morning people are in and out getting their pick-me-up to get them going!

                            I don't drink coffee. Never have, never will. 

I am not a huge tea drinker, either, but I do enjoy a cup now and then. Today our life enrichment director announced that we will start having tea available in the community room. Guess I'll get my lazy self out of bed, put on clothes (I don't think they'd appreciate it if I went down in my jammies) and get me some tea. 

        
                                        
Oh, I forgot to tell you. I went down to play bingo last night. We each pitch in $5 to play and then that money is divided up for prize money. I won one game.. got my $5 back.

 Stay happy, keep dry, come back to visit again real soon.                                       

Gossip Time

We girls never Gossip!

We talk about people, places and thoughts.

But, Gossip.... never!

We had our girlfriend get-together here at my apartment last night. Do that every other week. There's just so much happening around this place that we can talk for hours.

Yep, it was after midnight before the party broke up. 

We talked about how happy we are with the new 'atmosphere' around here.

We talked about being prepared for our demise. (I mean, it's gonna happen, might as well have your ducks in a row)

We talked about who had moved out, died, was sick, who had boyfriends, live-ins etc. 

Is that gossip? We are just being friendly. right?

One gal has taken over the role of being in charge of our activities. She's larger than life in a lot of ways, bossy, brash, downright rude at time. Yep, she got talked about.

We talked about what activities are going well and what isn't.

Nobody seems to want to play games.

I reminded the girls that we all have busy lives. It's not as if we are nursing home patients who need to be kept busy. We cook, clean, shop, we have families,

We just haven't gotten to the 'sit around playing games all day' stage yet.

As for what is going well. If there is food involved the crowd shows up. And, we are enjoying our entertainment that visits. And, other things. 

I have to tell you about what happened yesterday. First let me say that when the other owners had this apartment complex I stayed in my apartment a lot and I got depressed at times, lonely.

My daughter would make an effort to check on me, come take me to lunch etc.

Yesterday she texted me... I didn't answer

She called me.... I didn't answer

(I don't take my cell phone with me when I am doing activities downstairs)

So, she texts her sister and brother and told them I wasn't answering her.

She asked, "What's happened to our Mom?"

My son said, "Mom's turned into a social butterfly".

I thought that was funny. 

Joining Thankful Thursday

Mr. Peanut Has Died!

                                                                    Oh No...

                                                 Mr. Peanut has died! 

If you watched the Super Bowl last night, you saw what happened to cause his demise.

He had been the mascot/icon of Planters Peanut Co. for 104 years. Poor ole soul. That's a long life. 

I moved to Suffolk, Virginia five years ago and of course, I became acquainted with Mr. Peanut. And, now he is gone. 

                                  But, let me give you a little history of this 'famous icon'. 

Amedeo Obici founded Planters Peanut Company in 1906, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. A few years later Mr. Obici moved his peanut company to Suffolk, Virginia. (yes, there is still a plant and gift shop here) even though the company now is owned by Kraft.

In 1916, a young schoolboy, Antonio Gentile, submitted drawings of a peanut to a design contest and his design was chosen to be Mr. Peanut. While Gentile's family originally received five dollars for winning the contest, Obici befriended them and paid Antonio’s, and four of his siblings', way through college. After Obici paid Antonio's way through medical school, he became a doctor in Newport News, where he died of a heart attack in 1939. (This info came from Wikipedia)

We were so sad to think that The Planters Peanut Company was throwing Mr. Peanut to the wind. It didn't seem fair. 
But, in the Super Bowl  commercial .... ta da... 
                                    A New Baby Peanut appeared. (click on link)

Frankly, I loved the old one! It will take some getting used to this Baby thingofamagig!! 

Birds and Butterflies

We have had a night of rain, now I am hoping for some sunshine!

It's February

Can you believe it?

Time just stepped on slick ice and is sliding away. 

Anyway, we shouldn't complain. We are alive and breathing and I hope we all are well. 

Yesterday a group of us loaded up in the van (it holds 14) and headed out on a Wild Bird Adventure and lunch at Tequila Flats.

Well, I should have taken a picture of my chimichonga (oh heck, I don't know how to spell that but you know what I am talking about) but I scarfed a good portion of it right down. Brought the rest home for dinner last night. 

Then we walked down the block to a Wild Bird store. They have supplies and gifts. I have a bird identification book that I have used for ages. I mark in it the place and date when I see a new bird. But, I just had to have this one.

It is so easily used and understood. Thanks Stan Tekiela whomever you are!

The birds are grouped by color. Well, yes, isn't that what you see first when you spot a bird? 

And, just look at how easy it is to read the info. 

I saw a Kingbird a couple of years ago here at the apartment complex.

Oh, and I am always wondering what kind of butterfly I am looking at.

Not that I see a lot of butterflies anymore.

So, I bought this fold out Pocket Guide to help me along.

My day was filled with fun, food and finds yesterday.

How was yours?