Happy Birthday Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash, born February 26, 1932

The Man in Black.  He was quite a character.  He sang some great songs with a very distinctive sound.  One of my favorites is actually 'I'm Going to Jackson', a duet with this wife June Carter Cash.  Choosing my favorite solo song is hard.  I guess it would have to be 'A Boy Named Sue'.  

I heard this song called 'One Piece at a Time' recently for the first time.  It's pretty funny - have you heard it?

Throwback Thursday

This was taken at the July 4, 2000 cookout.

These three sisters were so little then.  They have all grown into beautiful young women, one with a little girl of her own.  

At end of this, I couldn't help but chuckle and think it's a wonder K turned out so well!!  She certainly got bounced around by her siblings!

Honey.....

Linking up with Chrisy for Reconnecting with Nature.  We were at the Farmer's Market the other day, specifically looking for local wildflower honey.  We found it.  Nice thick, dark, non-processed honey.

All thanks to these honey bees

They are quite amazing - and where would we be without them?  90% of flowering plants are pollinated with the assistance of animals -- 90 percent!

Growing up in the country - and around cranberry bogs - there were always bees flying around.   The cranberry growers (and I'm sure other fruit and vegetable growers) actually rent hives to help pollenate the crops.  So during the warmers months, you will see the boxes of hives near the bogs.

  For the most part, if you don't both them, they don't bother you.  I remember one day Andy was next door mowing my parents lawn and came back into the house and said there were a LOT of bees out front.  He was right.  There were a LOT of bees.  I can't remember why, but apparently they left their hive and were looking for a new home.  One of our trees looked like a good place, so once the queen bee landed in the tree they all followed her.  Jim's father knew how to handle the bees, so we had him come over and get rid of them.

Since spring is right around the corner (notice that optimism?) that means allergy season will be here soon, too.  I heard from a nutritionist that if you eat one teaspoon of local wildflower honey every day for two weeks, it will help decrease the severity of your allergies.   It puts all of those allergens into your system in a slow, more controlled way so your body can build up it's defenses again them.  You can add it to tea, oatmeal, smoothies, whatever you want.  Yum!!

A Huge Milestone

I got the results from my recent oncologist appointment today - and I am now officially 

TWO YEARS CANCER FREE!!

Which is a huge milestone.  My chance of recurrence is lowered, by doctor's appointments are further apart, and it feel alike the dark cloud overhead is getting a little lighter.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support - I can't tell you how much that has meant to us.  So whatever you're drinking right now, raise your glass for a toast.  To Life my friends, may it be long, happy, healthy and fun.  Full of love and laughter. 

Living the dream, baby - living the dream.

Holey Sinkhole!

Whether you're a Corvette fan or not, this is heartbreaking

We went to the Corvette Museum a few years ago with Andy & Jenn.  I remember that room - there were lots of cars and lots of people, so it was hard to get pictures. 

This is a a picture from last week.  See that sign and the red barrier?

Here's Jim standing in front of it. 

There are 8 cars in the sinkhole.  They say it's about 40 feet wide by 30 feet deep.  Some of the cars are so deep into it that they can't be seen.  Sinkholes are pretty common in the area, so everyone seems to be taking it well.   

Here are some of the other cars that were in that room when we were there.

I guess the good news in all of this is that it occurred when no-one was inside the museum.  Imagine the tragedy if the room had been full of people.  They were nice cars - but they were just cars.

Presidents Day

Contrary to what folks are saying on the blog at Groupon.com, we are not celebrating President Alexander Hamilton today.  Alexander Hamilton never was President of The United States.  He was the first Treasury Secretary, but never President.

Today we celebrate Presidents Day.  Or more specifically, the birthdays of George Washington (February 22) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12).  

Washington was elected twice - unanimously - and was our first President.  He oversaw the creation of our government.

Lincoln was the 16th president, abolished slavery, and was assassinated at the Theater.

And now to celebrate, we get a day off of work.  Thanks George and Abe!!

The Chelyabinsk Fall

Ever hear of it?  It's a meteor that entered the earth's atmosphere over Russia one year ago.  You can read more about it here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor

So, with the Olympics being held in Russia, each of the ten gold medal winers

in Sochi on February 15 - will get two medals.  

Along with their Olympic gold medal, they will get a medal with a fragment of the meteor embedded in it.

My geeky side thinks that is so cool.  A really unique keepsake.

A Day at the Beach

Last summer we went to Cape Cod for Andy and Jenn's wedding.  We had hoped to get some good beach time because, having moved inland, we REALLY miss the beach.  There's something so calming about the sound and smell of the ocean.  The pure power and size of the ocean remind me of how small we really are.  Unfortunately it was also the weekend that a tropical storm came to the Cape.  So much for beach time - and an outdoor wedding.   It was a beautiful wedding, a lovely weekend with family and friends, and we couldn't have asked for anything more.

We were in staying at a Bed-and-Breakfast in Orleans, and went over to Skaket Beach one day (it may have been the day of the shark siting at Orleans Beach...... ) and saw this Fiddler Crab

They just look so unbalanced.  With the one big claw - like a sci-fi move gone bad.

Apparently this is a male, as the females claws are both the same size.   The males use their large claw in some sort of mating ritual.  The female chooses a mate based on his ability to wave his large claw - she can tell the size of his 'burrow' and then chooses the appropriate burrow size for her clutch of eggs.

All I know is that he was scurrying across the sand - and he may have been intimidated by us, but he kept going.  Perhaps realizing that we were intruders in his native habitat and would soon be gone.

Linking up with Chrisy at 'Living a Good North Coast Life' for her Reconnecting with Nature link-up.Living a Good North Coast Life

Sochi 2014

I love watching the Olympics, don't you? Knowing that all of those competitors dreamed of someday becoming Olympians, and now we get to watch their dreams come true. So powerful. You can see the joy in their faces during the opening ceremony.

As I watched last night, I was internally critiquing the outfits. If you don't want to know what was going through my head, you should probably stop reading now. I'll share my 'best' and 'worst' with you - and maybe a few more.

Let's start with Team USA. I LOVE that they are there despite all of the security concerns. Their courage and determination shines through. Look how happy they are! Sadly, I thought their Ugly-Christmas-sweater-turned-Olympic-opening-ceremony-outfit was one of the worst. And white pants? Before Memorial Day? They're not winter white, they're white white. Winter white would have at least matched the sweaters. Who voted on these? And what did the losing choices look like?????

I actually liked these Russian coats -- I chose them as my 'best'. Lots of people didn't like them. I think they may be a little cliche, but well done. I can imaging wearing this coat. And then I wonder if they get to choose which color coat they wear, or does someone else pick -- random question, but does anyone know?

And then there are the Swedes. I love the combination of the cobalt and yellow. The coats are great - the color, the length, the off-center zipper are all good. Hats and gloves - good and good. The pants? Well, they're......pants. OK, I admit - I just wanted to mention the Swedes.

And did you hear about these guys? The Jamaican Bobsled Team -- they moved from Jamaican to Colorado to train - Talk about culture shock! They didn't have the funds for equipment and travel so they started an online fundraising campaign and eventually had to ask people to stop donating - they raised something like $178,000. How's that for an Olympic dream!

Unfortunately their luggage did not arrive in Sochi with them. So they borrowed equipment and practiced eventually getting their luggage. Talk about overcoming obstacles.

And I like the outfits on the women who are leading each of the countries. They are unique and attractive.

Congrats to Team USA for winning the first Gold Medal of this Olympics!!

And can you tell me why there's a giant Babushka on the slopestyle course???

Best of Luck to all the teams!

Posted with Blogsy

Groundhog Day

Do you know what today is?  It's Groundhog Day.

Sorry - not the Bill Murray movie, but the real groundhog day.

The day when all the media gathers in Pennsylvania and watches as this man, with all the pomp and circumstance you can imagine, pulls a rodent from a hole in the ground to determine if winter is over.  According to this little rodent we are going to have six more weeks of winter this year.

For goodness sakes people, get a grip - even the groundhog says

And besides, according to the Huffington Post:

Oh yeah, there's that other thing happening today, too

Whatever.  I don't really care.

Maybe I will watch Bill Murray......