Pumpkin Sunrise

This past Saturday I went to the Phipps Conservatory  in Pittsburgh with my family.  Both my sister and I carried around our "big" cameras and had lots of fun taking photos.  I'm thoroughly enjoying my new lens.   I was thrilled to see many other photographers toting their cameras and yes, I did peek at what camera they owned and their lenses.  I might have lens envy and some ideas for future Christmas presents. We had a fantastic time and went through the Orchid room twice!  My favorite though was the bonsai displays.  I would guess that working in a conservatory would be quite relaxing.  The atmosphere is gentle and soothing.  I love the water features and the sound of trickling, oh - they also played the cricket chirping through the speaker system.  My sister bought two little orchids in the gift store because she is fantastic at keeping them alive and blooming!  Not me...my talents are in wool.  I'm okay with that. Since Januar

During this week which is sort of a "stay-cation" kind of week, my husband and I drove to a neighboring town to walk around Knoebels Amusement park .  We spent a total of $20 dollars on eating some food and riding the train.  Of course, we walked around and people watched.  Ever since we've been married, we've been people watchers. We saw lots of families and summer camp children walking about.  The weather was in the low eighties but the humidity was high (still).  This blog will not become a weather complaining blog so I'll keep the comments of what I thought of that high humidity to myself. We are married 29 years near the end of the month and we are perfect together in that: -he rides roller coasters but becomes nauseous on spinning rides -I'm all for a big spin and leave me off of the roller coasters!! unrelated but: -he can take care of any bleeding injury and triage assess whether we need to go to ER when the kids (our son) did

Weekends are for memory making,  relaxing and enjoying quiet moments of our days.   If you would like, please share your weekend moments  in the comment section with a link to your blog. Guess what?  I was in Old Montreal over the weekend! Originally we were planning ( I was planning) to go in August but our son expressed an interest so we moved the trip up to July so he could go with us. As you can imagine, I had lots of fun but I missed home more than usual.  Getting old? street performers! We left on Thursday and stayed two nights and took in the sights and sounds.  I loved the basilica and all the holiness inside of it.  That is when I love being a Catholic the most, the statues, the candles and the history - so so good! Friday we walked everywhere and I clocked over 21,000 steps walking towards downtown which is 12,000 more that I like to do with my RA but I survived (after complaining and pouting). Isn't that church magnificent? I think so!

Get ready, there will be a LOT of photos on this blog post edition.   On May 11th my husband and I flew from Newark to LAX airport while my son flew from Boston to LAX airport to meet up and drive up to Santa Barbara to visit our daughter and son in law.  They are there for a few years while our son in law completes a post doc at UCSB. We've been planning this trip since they moved there last September and I was hesitant to be traveling so very far away from my home (which you know I love).  Luckily I was pumped up with prednisone which made the time change negligible and my comfort levels tip top. I was lucky enough to get to visit one LYS while there (  Loop and Leaf  ).  So friendly and so full of yarn :)  I did buy one skein but that will be for different post. My husband is quite patient while waiting outside the store, I wish I was as patient with him while he is in a used record vinyl store (I'm not...). They should pair the two together! my son in l

I went to New York City!  We planned a quick get away a few days before we left on Tuesday.  Yes, I know many of you live near NYC and I would've loved to meet up with you but I knew I would have absolutely a jammed packed two days.  And I did.  I walked over 8.5 miles each day and my RA was in full swing.  Thank goodness for park benches, cafes and theater seats for me to slightly recover. We went to the Guggenheim Museum .  I have to be honest, my husband is more into art than I am.  However I enjoyed myself.  I married a person who would read every single placard if there was infinite time available.   The obligatory selfie in Central park. Trusting a total stranger with my iphone for a couple shot.  People are so very kind in the world. I think this is SoHo....pretty sure.... McNally Jackson bookstore!!  (I, sadly did not get to The Strand bookstore, again..) Purl SoHo !!  This was pure heaven, I could have stayed there as long as my husband

As promised here are a few photos of our trip to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina.  We stayed at Villamare Villas  and enjoyed our time at the beach.  We walked the beach twice a day and looked for shells. We drove to a marina (above) and walked about there.  We ate lots of good food and we walked some more. We drove to this lighthouse and walked around some more and ate more food.  Really I think vacations are all about walking and eating....well maybe for me! All over the island are bike paths that wind throughout different plantations and each evening my husband and I went out with cameras and peeked at homes and villas. This is a lagoon near where we stayed (above photo) and each time I walked passed I looked for the alligator that I wasn't permitted to touch or feed.  Never saw him :(  I was hoping! More beach views and all the umbrellas that are for rent which we did not rent, we prefer to lug our own umbrella and be different. The next