HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - THIS AND THAT AND WHAT WE DID ON 8-15-25

A bit of a ramble today.

We left the house relatively early, for us (Friday 8/15/25). Getting out before noon is 'relatively early', and a little before 10.00 a.m. today, which was our aim. We were heading to Chateau de Chantilly, deciding to forego tomorrow’s weekly Saturday donut from the local supermarket and my coffee from the coffee shop next door, to go to what is now our favorite breakfast stop. It's not that far a drive away and we were there in 15 minutes. Traffic was light by that time, and we were lucky to find a parking spot in front. 

Not a weekly event but not that long ago either. We just felt like it today. Last time we said our visits would be once every month or so, but if wishes were horses as the old saying goes. We actually met a sweet little dog (on the 4th). I asked the two ladies at an outside table (restaurant next door) if I could take a photo of her. She finds her voice for dogs. They were only too happy to oblige and no one else was there. This little sweetie was sitting on a seat next to them but as I walked by, she surprised me by hopping up onto the tabletop, walking across for a bit of a fuss and immediately started nuzzling my hand. Say hello to Misha! I could have stayed with her for longer, but I quickly took my photo, thanked the ladies and moved on. When I looked back she was off the tabletop and once again had settled back into her chair.

Chateau de Chantilly isn't as fancy as its name implies, but it is what you might call a trendy place, more than any we normally go to. I love their high ceilings with the hanging lights. Very popular but midweek seems to be a good time to go, busy but we have always been lucky getting a table. Weekends is a different matter. The coffee is excellent. I ordered a vanilla latté, my usual go to. Below is a photo of Gregg waiting in line, which was quite long.  

Both coffee and croissant, and my dear other half's pastry, was a welcome treat. His looked on the plainer side but he said it tasted decadent, a word he doesn't use very often when describing desserts. It had cream cheese baked inside. Mine was a Dubai Chocolate/Nutella stuffed croissant, and it was excellent! I ordered this the last time.

Here's a closer look at my bakery treat. I think that coating is shredded coconut. It might have been something I would pass by without a second thought, but it was recommended to me by our son and daughter-in-law and I was curious as they never steer us wrong. All pastries are at this link.

The only photo I took when we were going back to our car was something Gregg pointed out. It was the restaurant next door on the other side. He said I should take a photo. I'm glad he did because all I could think of was getting back to the car and out of the heat. 

So that was the outing this morning. 

A few days ago, dear other half was sorting out the boxes in the garage, and came across an old navy teddy bear I painted in 1988 (I would always date them on the back, put my first name above the year, all in tiny letters, with a little red heart over the ‘i’ just like I do on my signatures for the blog). The bear is a reminder of the small cottage industry I used to have, which I kept going for 14 years. I had paper to draw ideas down, pencils, paint brushes, paints, a jigsaw to cut my designs out and a standalone sander, along with ear protectors and safety glasses. There were also squares of sandpaper that I used to finish. When everything was nice and smooth, it was time for the next step. This small business of mine would cause me to wake up in the middle of the night, with a design of an ornament in my head, to be drawn immediately before I forgot. 

Our garage turned into a workshop where I cut out the ornaments while everyone was at work, and quite often when neighbors came home from work, invariably someone would bring a bottle of wine over with a couple of glasses, plus camp chairs, and it was time to stop until husbands came home. That was my sign to stop, brush the sawdust off my clothes, sit down and join them. They were wonderful neighbors. 

We had all moved in at the same time and met while getting our gardens in order. (There was no landscaping done by the builders.) Sometimes husbands joined us, and the kids played in the cul-de-sac in front of us. We lived at the top of the cul-de-sac and it was a safe area for them to play, especially as we parents all had our eyes on them. The kids ranged from five to 10 years of age, and everyone took care of each other. If parents were late for any reason, they knew that we would all look out for their offspring until they were able to get home. All they had to do was knock on our door. It was a great neighborhood.

I have told this story on here before, but it’s been a while. I sold everything I made at Christmas craft shows, some of them on navy bases as you might guess from the teddy below. I got my ideas from everywhere, even from a person walking down the street. No, I didn't stalk them - big smile here - but occasionally an interesting person would walk by in an interesting outfit, and I took note, turned them into elves or fairies or Santa Clauses. I worked around the family’s hours, saw they were well taken care of and as soon as they left for work/school or wherever, I would do a few chores and start cutting out or painting. Usually I made several stacks of ornaments and turned them out on fold-up tables in the garage, painting each part until they dried and start on another part until they were finished. I also painted in the evenings when all was quiet, up until midnight sometimes. It was a fun time, and I wish I had taken count of the thousands of various shapes I made and painted over the years. I met all kinds of lovely people and enjoyed selling my ornaments to them.

With my navy ornaments wives would bring their husbands uniforms. First it was navy and, being a navy wife, I pretty much knew what they were all about. But then wives from the other services got word and could I do theirs? When I explained I really didn't know about those, wives offered to bring me their husband's uniforms. They explained about the ribbons and could I do them in order, even parachute insignia was fair game. It was all a wonderful challenge to do them. Gregg used to joke that I must have had a paintbrush with two hairs to do those. That first time when he came home, I remember how shocked he was to see half a dozen or so different service uniforms on hangers over every door. We still have a chuckle when we remember those days. I would copy them on my tracing notepad, take photos, cut the ornaments out and sand them (not always teddy bears but little toy soldiers for the most part). The doorbell rang a lot, and the uniforms kept being hung on the closet doors as the word was passed from one person to another. My ornaments were rudimentary, but people seemed to enjoy them and that was enough for me. 

And then as I got older my fingers gave out and they screamed very loudly that I needed to find something else to do. I was very sad but it was time to put all my things away as the warnings came from the doctors when they found out what I did. My neighbors still turned up at our garage where we would sit in a circle and chat for a while. We did that quite a lot during the week until Gregg left the navy, and we moved into the civilian world, all the way across country. 

As for my ornaments, I retired and Gregg was relieved. He never liked me using a jigsaw to cut these shapes out, always fearing for my fingers but I never cut things out unless I was totally alert. We gave the jigsaw and sander to our handyman soon after. 

I was very happy he found this navy teddy the other day. It was my only copy left of that design and a total surprise to have it back, and of course the memories started rolling. It will be joining the others on our Christmas Tree come December.

Anyhow, I think I have done enough blathering for today but I wanted to leave you this. I just found it on Pinterest and it tickled my funny bone.

Sorry, I can't come to work tomorrow.

 I've got to teach my facial expressions 

how to use their inside voice.

Thanks for looking and I hope 

your day is great.

My blog originally started out as a journal of photos and memories for our son. I forget now how I found out about blogging, but it seemed a great idea to use it for this. I didn’t know much about settings so was shocked when that first comment appeared. A new world opened up.  I keep a lot private, which will be for son’s eyes only (Gregg writes too about his side of the family.  We both said how wonderful it would have been if we knew more about our own parents, asked more questions, but this is something as young people that we didn’t think of.) My mother told me lots of stories about her life, and my father did too. I have passed these stories down to our son. I share memories and moments for him on here now, even the boring stuff. 

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - A 'THIS AND THAT' FOR DECEMBER...

...and more from Pinterest. I have been putting this post together for a couple of weeks now. I am hoping to finish it and have it ready to go out on Sunday, December 3rd.  This is quite a ramble just to be forewarned, ha!

A very dreary day and raining heavily. It is 40 degrees Fahrenheit, though it feels colder. We have had several colder days so I can't moan at today's liquid sunshine. It is a little warmer because of the rain, but still a hot chocolate kind of a day.

This is our weather for the next ten days.

 No walkies for Camera Lady and Camera Lady's Husband, though we did pop out and treat ourselves to a cheeseburger and fries at McDonalds, a relatively short trip. Our drive was between rains.  The woods will have to wait. 

Here's a few facts about John Muir.

“He is known as John of the Mountains and the Father of America’s national parks, as well as patron saint of the American wilderness. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas in America. John founded the Sierra Club, which is an acclaimed American conservation organization.”  Thanks Mr. Muir, we owe you a great debt!  You can read more about him at Wikipedia here.

I have been preparing tonight's dinner, one I have had on here before. It is a vegan Lemon Spaghetti with Spinach. The recipe can be found at this link.  We tried it for the first time in June 2020, though we have made it several times since then. It was one our dear daughter-in-law gave us. Though we are not vegan, there are times when I want to put a meatless meal on the table.  However, today we added shrimp, and also another veggie, mushrooms.

I have been unpacking more ornament boxes. Gregg always notices if I don't have any of my old painted ones on the tree. I couldn't find them last year and he noticed then too. As I was a little earlier, I made a special effort to dig deeper and found a few. I also found an old stained glass wreathe. I bought it from a lady when we lived in Monterey for two years back in the early 80s. My dear man put it on the wall in the family room, along with another Christmas wreath tucked in the bottom of the same box.  

Years ago I had a small cottage industry. A friend asked me to join her craft table many, many years ago. I wasn't sure what to do until I found a simple wooden ornament in a shop, the side profile of a policeman. I bought it, looked at it for a while, and Gregg said you could make something like that but turn him into a navy chap, so the seed was sown.  Here's the ornament I made for Gregg.  As I said, very rudimentary but with great sentimental value.

 Shortly after we were driving by a Chinese grocery shop with old fruit and vegetable crates at the back of the store. The owner was in the process of throwing them out. This very kind person gave them to me after we asked if we could take some of them. He wanted to get rid of them and said I could come back if I needed more. We packed every nook and cranny of our car. That sweet gentleman gave me a free supply of wood that lasted the whole two years we lived in Monterey.  

I had no idea how I was going to make my ornaments, so my friend and I went to the navy woodshop for advice. I was taught how to cut out shapes and how to sand them. It was a hoot because there were these dear chaps building cabinets, tables and more, and there I was with my old fruit crates cutting out small, very rudimentary wooden ornaments. I got teased a little which was all in good fun, but they were a good lot, and I left with dozens and dozens of shapes. I painted them with acrylics and sold them at the local annual navy craft fair. 

All those navy ornaments, which were all I had at that first craft show (on navy grounds), sold out early and I had dozens of orders, not only for navy ornaments but wives asking me if I could do the other services too, and also female uniforms. Gregg was in shock when he came home one day to find not only Navy but also Marine Corps, Army and Air Force uniforms hanging up on every door in our apartment. I often wonder what their husbands would have thought seeing their very neatly pressed dress uniforms in such a way.  Probably would have been as shocked as my husband was that first time he came home from the school and saw them.  The doorbell kept ringing every day for a quite a while. The ribbons were important to many, and I found a two-hair paintbrush (slight exaggeration but not far from it) to paint those ribbons, and I was asked to put them in the right order. I also learned how to do parachute medals. Gregg was not surprised when I asked him for a bandsaw and sander for my birthday, which we still have a chuckle about when we think back to those days. He truly had as much fun as I did as he helped getting boxes and boxes into the car and setting up tables. He was my second arm and he loved doing it. He and our son as son got older, would come over to every craft show, sit at the table and take over while I got a quick lunch break.  It kept me very busy for not only the two years we were in Monterey, but for the next 14 years at all the places we lived, and my ornament selection took on many different forms from Angels to Santa Clauses, to anything I could cut out and paint. 

Gregg gave me one of those "Do you remember when..." as I read this out to him.  He reminded me of a story I had all but forgotten, of a lady who called me from the Midwest right out of the blue.  To this day I can’t remember how she found out about me, that information has long since left my head.  Maybe a friend or relative who bought one of my ornaments and sent it to her, who knows?  She asked me if I could make one of her pet cow. I had started making simply shaped animals. She sent a photo of her pet, I found a cow-shape in one of my son’s children's books, outlined it on tracing paper, cut that shape out and then attached it to my broken-down veggie crate.  Then I cut it out, painted it, trying to follow the exact pattern of her pet cow's coat, along with the right color and sent it off.  I had also started taking a Sharpie along to the craft shows and personalized ornaments when asked. This lady had also asked me to add her pet cow’s name which I was happy to do.  I had a thank you letter from her telling me how tickled pink she was, which made the extra effort very worthwhile. 

There is also a story about my Christmas Ornament Mystery at this link and also here. I just remembered that. Blogging friends who have been following me a while may remember this, but it will be new to other friends who have been visiting since then.

Anyhow, this painting wooden ornaments became a passion of mine, I was hooked.  I had so much fun making them, selling them and meeting people everywhere we lived, some of whom became good friends. I did this until my hands gave out and I couldn't paint anymore. However, loads of great memories were made. And just for my dear other half, I still have a whole box of my wooden ornaments to find, and I'm still looking.

From Christmas ornaments and a pet cow, to this lovely Highland cow. 

“These types of cows are commonly found in the Highlands of Scotland. In the old Scots language, ‘coo’ means ‘cow’ so you may find many people still refer to this breed as either Highland cows or Highland coos. Scots language is a variety of English that’s been spoken in the Highlands for hundreds of years. But it’s not the same as Gaelic. In Gaelic, you’d call a Highland cow a ‘ Bò Ghàidhealach’. Now, try saying that with a mouth full of haggis!” 

They usually aren’t dressed this stylishly.

“Pan, who and what art thou?" he cried huskily.

"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture, "I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg.” 

~J.M. Barrie who wrote Peter Pan~

“I will spread my wings until I learn how to fly.  I’ll do what it takes to touch the sky.”

~sung by Kelly Clarkson and written by Avril Lavigne, Bridget Benenate and Matthew Gerard~

“Peace is the first thing the angels sang.”

~John Kebble~

"The best inheritance parents can give their children is a few minutes of time each day."

~Orlando Aloysius Battista~

"The other day when I was walking through the woods, I saw a rabbit standing in front of a candle making shadows of people on a tree."

~Steven Wright~

“Nothing says ‘holiday cheer’ like a snowman.” 

~Author Unknown~

No words needed, this says it all.

"I'm very happy being me, although sometimes I'd love to be a bird so that I could fly."

~Joy Fielding, Author~

"Baking is my therapy, and the result is pure happiness."

1. ~Author Unknown~
2. Nothing to see here, just a snowman trying not to lose his nose.
3. 
4. What is it with those noses?
5. 

Hang on to your, well you know, your nose!

Taking care of each other, that’s what it’s all about. 

"Be the hand - or antler - that lifts others up."

~Author Unknown~

For everyone of us...

Thanks for visiting and may you all have the happiest of Decembers!

THIS AND THAT - NOVEMBER

I really love some of these pictures I find at Pinterest.  The bear almost looks like he is thinking, "It's been one of those days!"

The Tufted Titmouse is looking as if it just asked us a question and is waiting for the answer.

I was trying to think of what I wanted for lunch.  Gregg was out of the house for most of the day and I decided to fix myself a pork sandwich - yes, from the accidentally bought 8 lb. piece of pork!  I put 2 ozs. on Italian bread, and a little coleslaw on the side.  The dear man made the coleslaw earlier. Neither of us have had much success buying it at the store lately.  It always seems too soupy, or maybe we are just super-picky.  This homemade version was excellent and suited our taste perfectly.  Another win for the dear man I told him.  The rest of the pork is now in the freezer. 

A couple of hours later I made this for a treat, a chocolate chip cookie for one, with a 1/4 cup of vanilla ice-cream on the top.  It's a recipe I have made maybe only once since that first one.  I added walnuts this time instead of pecans.

You can find it at this link if you think you would enjoy it.  I took more photos, dressing my plate up for Fall.  A little ‘busy’ perhaps but I liked it. This year I bought some decorative leaves for our Thanksgiving table, which I added to the plate.  The placemats we have had for a couple of years. I got carried away with all the colors and made a little art with my ArtCard app.

But here’s the finished product, and it really was delicious.

Love these!

I'm adding a little humor because I know we've all been there.

Sharing some of my favorite flowers.  I will be buying them next week. I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here!

This is a lovely poem and describes my feelings exactly.  When we drove to the Shenandoah National Park the other day, we passed trees that were shedding their leaves in every neighborhood.  They decorated the gardens beautifully, and some of the grass showing was still green, not dormant, a real pretty contrast to the red and gold fallen leaves.  A lot of people will be busy raking over the next few days.

Wouldn’t this be a pretty table setting at Thanksgiving?

Interesting owl art.  I like this.  I love owls!

That's all for today's This and That.  I hope there is something in here that you like.