What follows is basically a discussion that Rick and I had when he came home from work tonight. I was asking him what I should wear to our “Champagne & Candlelight” evening out at Skylands Manor on Saturday. It went something like this.

Me:
What should I wear? Something fancy or not quite as fancy? (Note: I spent three hours down in Wayne today trying on clothes with nothing to show for it.)

Rick:
You have a closet full of things!

Me:
Uhm… okay. I have a a handful of dresses that might work. Some are really party dresses.

Rick:
You have tons of stuff to wear!

Me:
Okay. I have the little slit-down-to my nearly-navel little gold number I wore to the Opera last year.

Rick:
Yeah, I really like that one. Maybe too much for this event though.

Me:
Okay, you’re probably right. Too much cleavage for this crowd.  I have the little classic black dress, you know, the A-line one with the cap sleeves that I wore down the shore this summer?

Rick:
What’s A-line mean? What are cap sleeves?

Me:
Hmm. Okay, never mind. Or I have the the cobalt blue dress with the stone necklace neckline with the ruffles. Remember, I wore it on vacation in Cancun? I wore it the night I got so tipsy before our flight back that you had to pack for me? (It’s still a tad wrinkled from your packing.)

Rick:
No, I don’t remember that one. What’s a necklace neckline? (Excuse me, who was the

drunk

tipsy one here?)

Me:
Okay. Great. How about the black dress with the asymmetrical shoulder, ruffles, that I wore when we went to New Orleans?

Rick:
Don’t know. Don’t remember that one. But I do know what ruffles are.

Sigh.

The question is: what should I wear? Any votes?

My very first ever giveaway! Do you have visions of sugarplums dancing in your head in anticipation of the coming holidays? No? Maybe you need a little help then. A nudge in the right direction, shall we say. Look no further than this yarn:

Interested? Well, it can be yours! 80 yards of scrumptiously soft candy-cane-colored handspun yarn. I believe it’s wool plied with mohair and a thick-and-thin consistency. Super soft and fuzzy! Enough to make that little something for the girl that has everything, or use it as trim or edging on special handmade Christmas presents.

Spun with tiny glass beads sprinkled through out ...

little “gingerbread” ornaments ...

tiny glass sugarplums ...

candy canes and peppermint balls.

I bought this yarn a few years ago from a seller I was hooked on. I tried her website the other day and it seems that she is no longer selling her handcrafted yarn. I had always planned to use it on something Christmasy, but now I am thinking it would be better off with someone who could put it to better use. So, I am offering it up to a lucky “someone” out there in blogland.

If you are interested, please leave a comment for me and tell me you’d like to be in the drawing for the giveaway. If you’d like to tell me what you could or would do with the yarn if you won that would be wonderful! Leave your comment by Thanksgiving and I’ll draw names the day after.

Good luck!

Oh boy. The directions sent home with Bella after her spay recommend that she only be walked on leash and only when necessary. No normal activity for one month after suture removal (which is in two weeks). Tell that to Bella, would you please? She’s ready to resume “normal activity” now!

The first day after her spay she was content to sleep and stick very close to us. Every time we changed rooms, so did she. She had a little bit of a restless night Saturday night trying to get comfortable in her now-too-small-crate. She banged around and woke us up pretty often. Yesterday morning she literally came bouncing out of her crate ready to take on the world—and her back yard—again. She was ready to go out there and chase squirrels! Can’t let that happen, but yet she was bored silly yesterday. Rick and I took turns taking her out. Or should I say that she took us out.

It was interesting to see where she took me. My normal mode is to open the door and let them outside, not really wondering what they do when they are out in the yard. Not since she was a small puppy and couldn’t be trusted by herself in our huge yard has Bella had so much scrutiny! She obviously has her favorite spots and smells, and I got to see them first hand this weekend (and will continue to for several weeks). It was interesting following behind her, and I got the idea to dust off the little camera and take a video of it. The video consists of three parts and if you get bored just hit the pause button. In the first video I say “prior to her spay” but of course, as usual, I was confused. The second video is the longest at almost four minutes. So if you’re so inclined and need a walk, please join us.

You might notice that I now have more work to do with the leaves!

 

 

 

Repeat at least six or seven times per day. Maybe more.

yesterday was not much fun for me. mommy and daddy got up early and took me to the vet place. i was happy because i don’t mind the vet place. but then mommy and daddy left, they stuck a needle in me and i had to wait a long time in a crate. then i went to sleep and when i woke up i felt real funny. mommy and daddy finally came to get me after ages and ages. they brought me home and i made funny whimpery noises like i was trying to sing a song. mommy and daddy think the pain drugs made me trippy. i did pretty good overnight and just slept, mostly. i had to sleep back in my crate like a little puppy again. mommy and daddy says i got spayeded. i don’t think i want to “get spayded” ever again. mommy said i won’t have to.

this morning daddy had to take me out on a leash to pee-pee. he said there’s going to be a lot of that. doctor’s orders for at least 2 weeks. he said i need to be careful and calm. hah. good luck with that i say. give me a couple of days and i’ll be making trouble again.

To my grandfather (on left), who fought in WWII and loved every single minute.  Known to most as George, or as my grandmother called him “Bum” (not sure why!), he was better known to me as Poppy. My grandmother captured his journey in this lovely hand-painted album. I’m not sure what the significance of this album coming from “Green Cove Springs, Fla.” is exactly. I thought maybe he was stationed there or trained there, but inside the cover there is an inscription that says otherwise. So, that part will remain a mystery. (Although in a footnote below I did find some information connected to WWII there.) Maybe he shipped out from there?

Above is the inscription page and in case you can’t read it here it what it says in my grandmother’s handwriting:

“S/Sgt. George Sherow 32947541 CO. H. 328th Inf. A.P.O. 26
Entered U. S. Army Dec. 3, 1943.
Trained at Camp Wolters, Texas & Camp Shelby, Miss.
Home on furlough May 1944.
Last 12 hr. pass Aug. 14, 1944
Left for overseas Aug. 1944
With the 26th Yankee Division through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria & Czeck.
Wounded in action Dec. 1944 awarded Purple Heart.
Also holds combat infantryman badge and E. T. O (?) ribbons with four battle stars. (Note: I think E. T. stand for European Theater Ribbon.)
Awarded Silver Star for gallantry in action.
Home after 15 months overseas.
Discharged November 13th, 1945

At the top of the page is written “arrived in States Nov 8 -45. Home Nov 45 on Howard Victory.”

This silly photo is marked “Taken in Texas 1943” on the back, so it must have been when he was first in boot camp. I think the horse is real, but who knows? Eh, caballero!

Here he is with my grandmother. The date on the back is ” May 1944,” so I am thinking this was his furlough.

The album is full of photos of war time events and people. The names, meaningless to me, are written under the photos of long ago war time buddies. Countries are documented as they made their way across Europe.

I remember my grandfather telling stories about the war and having met General Patton himself and what a great man and leader he was. I thought it was interesting how he wrote on these photos where Patton was in these two shots. He’s in there somewhere, we just have to trust Poppy.

Also Patton related were several post cards of the famous Lipizzaner stallions marked “Horse show in Vienna,” and this one marked “Patton’s Horse.”

Now, I doubt this is really Patton’s own horse but there is some reason the photo is labelled that way, both on the back and underneath. Patton did indeed attend a show of the Lipizzaner stallions while in Vienna (and it would seem the two photos above were taken at that very same event!) and was paramount in their rescue during the war.  Here is a link to that story.

A few other pages in the album are worth another look. This one with a ticket from the mess hall stating that the first meal was at 7:30 a.m. and the second was at 4:30 p.m. That seems pretty early to eat in the evening for a hungry soldier! Also on this page, an Army exchange ration card.

One with photos of Austria and a row of stamps with Hitler’s image. Note the inscription under the stamps!

Another page has clippings from the newspaper of his promotions and medals.

Accompanying the album is a small box marked “medals.” I could swear there used to be a paper inside this box that told about his Purple Heart but it’s not there now.

Also in the box is this silver dollar. The note attached to it says “this dollar went with Poppy overseas and came back with him as you can see by all he wrote on it.” It was his good luck dollar, and everywhere he went he wrote his destination.

And last but not least, the box also contained this newsletter which must have been printed on the ship home—The Howard Victory.

And here they are on the ship home. (Poppy is in the middle of the three men.)

I hope you’ve enjoyed your peek into this wonderful album my grandparents left behind. I know I’ve learned a few things I overlooked before.

On this day, thank you Poppy for your commitment to your country. I’m proud of you!

Thanks to all who serve: past, present and future.