AROUND AND ABOUT FROM 3-3-25 TO 3-9-25

This is our weather forecast for this week, from Monday 3-10-25 to 3-17-25

Hello Family and Friends, thank you once again for your encouragement. Here Is this past week’s daily journal. 

Monday, March 3rd, 2025: father and son were off out for the day. I enjoyed my usual pottering. Not much went on here but Gregg returned with a gift from one of the bookstores they visited. He always says books find you, you don't find them. He saw this one on a display table and picked it up immediately, looked through it and knew I would love it. He was right. It's a new one by Amy Tan and all the art is her own.

Tuesday, March 4th, 2025: 

We ran an errand today, I just went along for the ride and stayed in the car while Gregg went into the dry cleaners. I saw the leprechaun and unicorn again on our way home. This time there was an Irish flag.

Not long now before St. Patrick's Day but in advance I'll wish you: 

"Lá fhéile Pádraig Sona Dhuit" in Irish. 

According to Google it actually translates directly to "Happy Day of the Festival of Patrick to you".

• "Lá Fhéile Pádraig": Means "St Patrick's Day".
• "Sona": Means "happy".
• "Duit": Means "to you". 

This shows its pronunciation:

With it being Shrove Tuesday I made pancakes this evening. It was a tradition in my family when I was growing up, and is still tradition in the UK I'm thinking, to make them once a year (Brit friends please let me know if this is still going on). Mum always made it a lot of fun. She would toss the pancakes up in the air to flip them back into the pan on the other side, letting us have a try. Quite a few landed on the floor and nothing but laughter and giggles, and lots of happy times.

When we first met, Gregg told me he was surprised that pancakes were only made once a year, which he had found on the Royal Navy ship he was stationed with for two years. When we were first married and he asked if I could make him pancakes, I remember being very surprised that pancakes were made for breakfast, and often. It certainly wasn't Shrove Tuesday. 

I still make them the way my mother used to, something between an American pancake and a crepe, but more like a crepe, which fortunately he loved and still loves. We always served ours sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar over the top, and intended to make them that way today. At the last minute we found we had used all our lemons, and I didn't want Gregg to go out just for those. Maple syrup it was! I added blueberries on mine. 

Wednesday, March 5th, 2025: when we saw them last Sunday, our son and daughter-in-law brought pastries from a place called Chateau de Chantilly Cafe. Gregg enjoyed his very much - a fried croissant with a cream filling - and suggested we go over there this morning for breakfast. We are also checking places out when our overseas company visit us.  They will be arriving a little over a month from now. 

This is actually our second visit to the cafe, our first was last year. Visually, and I thought it a bit strange, as I looked at all the variety of delicious delights they offered, I found myself a bit overwhelmed. 

I couldn't decide on anything. I ended up getting what Gregg had come here for, a fried croissant with a cream filling. It was outstanding. Gregg also purchased a coca-cola and ordered a latte for me, except that he accidentally ordered me two. 

I was so annoyed!

And yes I am joking. My unexpected café au lait pour deux? Lovely, and so was that fried croissant. I was wired for the rest of the day. That silly face was after my dear other half asked me if I enjoyed the extra cup of coffee and that was my response. They are not small cups!

A big thank you to him for such a nice treat with my extra surprise, and the nice drive to get out here.

I would describe this place as shabby/chic. I am comfortable wearing a sweater and jeans. It is in an old building with tall ceilings. When son and daughter-in-law were there on the weekend it was packed out and they were lucky to get a table. We had no problem mid-week, and we always go on an off hour when people have gone back to work.  There is an upstairs for the overflow. We managed to get a parking spot right out front, so I left my cane in the car and used Gregg’s arm. They are open every day from 7.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.

On the way home we had a good old Virginia downpour. I took this photo between the window wipers going at full speed. I have quite a few which I deleted before this one.

We had a FaceTime with my brother-in-law in Germany, another nice long chat. I feel blessed that we have such a close friendship with him after all these years, and with such distance between us too. I am grateful to this technology that allows us to keep in touch, almost like we are all in the same room.  

Thursday, March 6th, 2024: father and son were out again with my blessing. Gregg left the house around 2:00 a.m. I did nothing special and pottered! He knows I enjoy my quiet time. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them anyway. They like to gadabout all over the place and I would slow them down to a crawl. My time went quickly and when hubs got home late evening, he caught me up on his day and I told him mine. He won! I can’t remember everything I did now, I just know the day went quickly.  

Friday, March 7th, 2025: I woke up to the wind howling outside. It was a little after 1:00 a.m. I could hear the sound of the tree branches whipping into a frenzy. It took me forever to get back to sleep. I could see the light of dawn coming through the shutters before going back to sleep.

The first thing I did this morning was look out on the deck. The only thing I could see amiss, was a small branch from the fir tree. When we first moved here, that fir tree was tiny and remained that way for years. I was told the roots hit the water table and from there on it grew and it grew, and it grew. It is way above the house, and we are going to have to do something about it soon, but unlike our other trees that had to be cut down, it looks very healthy. Someone quoted us $1,200 and because of priorities, don't want to do that right now as we have other things to take care of. It is a healthy-looking tree, and this price quoted was just for pruning. This seems to be the going rate and they certainly are very skilled. When the last man cut down the tree, he was like a lumberjack, shimmying up and down like it was no effort at all.

We picked up an item of clothing from the dry cleaners and that was about it for my outdoor adventure today. There was even more traffic around today.

Look what we saw on the way home? I think the leprechaun and his steed were a wee bit tipsy, or perhaps competing in a rodeo?

The more logical explanation is that with the wind last night, they were deflated.  I saw them flattened on the ground earlier with a couple of bicycles on top acting as weights. I think it was in the process of being inflated again.

Saturday, March 8th, 2025: I took one of my books down off the shelf and picked out a walrus to sketch. This book is not only educational, it has the most wonderful artwork inside, just like the new book Gregg gave me.

This is the one I chose. I remember seeing them once and they are magnificent marine animals. You can read about them at this link.

Here's my scribble sketch.

Nothing else of note today. We had a very quiet day, very relaxing.  

Sunday, March 9th, 2025: son just left at 12:30 p.m. He usually arrives between 8.30 and 9.00 with my coffee in hand and also a muffin. I look forward to his weekly visits. He and his dad will be getting together on Tuesday again. It's becoming a regular thing. 

I have a doctor's appointment coming up next week to see what's going on with this knee, as there are no marathons in my future until I get it sorted out. Not that there were any marathons in my past either, but it would be lovely to be able to get out on a good walk around my favorite places. I am very lucky, I have Green Spring Gardens as it's a short trip to where we park the car and is an easy, flat area.

It feels good to look outside and see the sun shining. 

I think I am going to end this week's around and about here. If something exciting happens I will add it before I publish. I have a feeling it's going to be all quiet, so at 5.13 p.m. I'll say bye-bye for now and until next time...

thanks so much for continuing to read through these things, always appreciated. 

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS FROM 2-24-25 TO 3-3-25

Below is our weather forecast from 3-4-25 to 3-11-25. Looks like the weather is heating up.

Thank you family and friends for always letting me know you enjoy these. I sometimes wonder if anyone is interested in what we do, as it's most definitely not a very exciting day-to day. But we enjoy going back and that word again, looking at the 'mundane' things we were interested in at the time. I hope you have all had a great weekend!

I haven't done very well this week for keeping up a daily routine journal. I was feeling a bit below par and didn't feel like writing anything down. Husband and son went off into Georgetown one day and I have already shown those photos. 

Wednesday February 26th, 2025: we went to Green Spring Gardens. That was nice and the sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid 50s. I walked a little further than the time before, saw new flowers and plants starting to show, with a sky that was a perfect blue but first... 

we had our car picnic. A few days previously Gregg had picked up cream sodas at the store, popped them in the trunk and forgot all about them. They were a nice surprise. 

He fixed himself an old favorite, a cheese and onion sandwich on a roll. The first time he had this combination was when it was given to him by someone who ran the naval canteen service on the ship he was on in the early 70s, and who was part of the NAAFI (the Navy Army Air Force Institute). 

He had been on an exchange tour with the Royal Navy, and I am repeating myself continuously on this blog but that's how we met. He was in the UK for a two-year duty exchange tour. 

He hadn't had one of these sandwiches in I can't remember how long, but suddenly decided that's what he wanted for our car picnic. Mine was chicken and lettuce on wheat. Nothing fancy but always tasty. 

Almost forgot, we had two flasks of hot soup also. When he was out the day before for a few hours, I made broccoli, cauliflower and cheddar soup. You can see the recipe at this link. I made it without the half-and-half but with 2 percent milk and a carton of low sodium chicken broth instead of the chicken base and water. It was lovely and a nice addition to the sandwiches. We sat there for a while, too chilly to eat outside just yet, but our car picnics are always enjoyable. (If needed, we get the small vac out when we reach home but have had no problems so far.) 

We sit facing the garden and see a bench through the trees. I am thinking that will be a nice place for our future extended car picnics as it's a hop, skip and a jump from where we park.

So, there we were at the garden. Earlier we had tried to get down to the ponds by driving over to the other side. Unfortunately, there were 'no parking' signs very near where we could see the short walk to where we wanted to go. So, we drove back to the regular entrance. (I am hoping to be able to walk down the hill to the ponds before the end of the year and, as always, keeping my fingers crossed.)

There's 'our' house that is not our house in the distance. I am looking forward to seeing what they will be planting in their garden beds out front. 

We are sitting on a bench and looking across the green. The sky was gorgeous, and the witch hazels were blooming in places.

There were snowdrops popping up everywhere.

I won't share all my photos from the garden today. Another post will be in a few days. I didn't take too many as it was another short trip.

Thursday and Friday, the 27th and 28th rolled by: brain in a bit of a fog truth be told.  

Saturday, March 1st, 2025: and here we are at the beginning of a new month.  Happy first day of the month to everyone. I sketched something new. I'm calling them scribble sketches, because I really have a hard time slowing down on these things. I got the original from Pinterest, one of two favorite go-to places. 

Breakfast: Saturday doughnut from the supermarket for both of us, and coffee for me. Gregg gets his strawberry jam filled dusted in powdered sugar. I get the one coated with chocolate on the top (of course) and the custard filled.  

Late lunch/early dinner: a jacket potato with baked beans. 

Snacks were a few almonds and a dish of skinny popcorn.  A naughty and nice day today.

Sunday, March 2nd, 2025: son came over for a few hours in the morning. He arrives with coffee for me and a muffin. Gregg is not partial to either so ate a lemon yogurt and drank an iced tea. Pat on the back for you I said. 

Later will be our traditional evening get-together to watch The Oscars. We have been doing this for several years. Son and our daughter-in-law will turn up around 5.30 p.m. for our evening of fun. We are eating light, a charcutier board and our darlings are bringing pastries from a bakery in Chantilly. (Gregg had I had ours for breakfast the next day and they were incredible, 10 out of 10 Gregg said.) The charcutier board was our evening meal. I've discovered I like stuffed grape vine leaves. It was sort of like a Ploughman's Lunch but Greek style. Everything on there was very tasty, three kinds of olives, cheeses, the stuffed grape leaves, small and round hot peppers that were hot but not too much, and probably some I have missed. 

Son and D-in-L explained most of the movies to us as we are most definitely not up to speed on these things, but it's all part of the fun. I do enjoy seeing the fashions on the red carpet.

As enjoyable as our time was together, I found that I was a little bored with the show itself, and felt it went on for two long. I might be showing my age ;) And then, wouldn't you know it, the timer for the show cut out on us before the last two major awards were given - didn't know there was a timer but we stream our TV now - and we weren't able to watch the finish. 

No matter how much we tried, we couldn't get it back. I think there might be a lot of miffed people out there as apparently this was done to thousands, and the message was that they had a blackout. It was also the first time they had streamed the Oscars live so our son told us, a major hiccup. Can't do much when that happens with something live. I think we had all had enough anyway as we were all tired and it was past our bedtime. 

Even so, we had a great time because after all, it's the company right? 

Time to stick my head in a cup of tea and snorkel my way down to the bottom! 

Have a great day everyone, have a great March and 

thanks for stopping by.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS - MONDAY 2/10/25 TO SUNDAY, 2-16/25

Hello Family and Friends,

Here is last week's daily journal. Thanks once again for all your nice comments and e-mails. encouragement to continue.  I will keep putting them together for as long as they are requested and enjoyed. 

Local weather forecast for week starting 2-17-25.

Monday, February 10th, 2025: Gregg took our car in to get its annual state inspection. It was done really fast and he was only gone for an hour. He dropped the car off, walked around the corner to McDonalds for breakfast, came back and they were done. 

Breakfast for me was Weetabix with a couple of dates and pumpkin seeds. Almond milk which I heat in the microwave for 2 minutes and poured on top of my Weetabix.

Lunch: wheat bread, toasted, scooped out small avocado mashed with a fork and spread on the toast, topped with a poached egg. Another favorite that I eat at lunch or dinner also.

Dinner: spinach salad and main ??? can’t remember. I am writing this a few days after. I can remember things from my childhood so vividly, but as I have heard many times before, “What did I go into the next room for?”

Tuesday, February 11th, 2025 at 1.40 p.m: it’s snowing!

I cancelled my physiotherapy appointment due to weather. There are lots of salt trucks on the road Gregg says, and he didn’t like the idea of driving in the snow, or getting stuck in it. They would probably have called to cancel anyway, like the last time the weather was bad. We beat them to it.

It started snowing just after 1:00 p.m., (and it was still snowing when we went to bed.)  

I am not going anywhere today. The forecasters said about 8 inches.  Looked very pretty outside.

Breakfast: Weetabix for me and another McDonald’s breakfast for Gregg. The adventurous one was out and about again (before snow) and car’s nose pointed itself through their drive-thru, one nearer home this time.  

We didn’t have lunch but later he got into the kitchen and put a beef noodle casserole together. I didn’t even have to cut up any vegetables at the kitchen table. I looked for a recipe online and showed it to him. He liked the look of it and got stuck in. We already had all the ingredients. We had another spinach salad on the side. All I did was find a recipe that I knew we would both enjoy. It will be another one I will put on the blog eventually. Definitely want this recipe handy as we enjoyed it very much.

Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 at 10:51 p.m: in bed and I am yawning. 

Breakfast: No breakfast today but I had a cup of black coffee.

Lunch: the rest of the noodle casserole and another simple spinach salad.

Dinner: we had breakfast for dinner, poached eggs on wheat toast.  

Snacks: a bowl of Skinny Popcorn and earlier a Kit-Kat Bar. It’s a conundrum. 

The same young high schooler rang the bell this morning and asked if we would like him to clear the snow up to the front door and the driveway. We happily said yes. He was driving a car today and had a big smile on his face when he told Gregg he had recently passed his driving test. 

Thanks to this young man, Gregg got out without any difficulty as he did a great job. The neighborhood roads were a bit trickier but the road crews, bless them, had done a great job on the main roads. Gregg did a grocery run as you can see above. We are making a new recipe sometime in the next couple of days and he saw I had added ingredients to our shared online shopping list.

He is having fun with a new app on his phone called Yuka, and may be taking a little longer to shop as he scans a lot of items, just for the fun of it and the fact we are trying to watch what food we eat, MickeyD's aside! It is also a free app. You just point your phone at the product’s barcode. 

I told him he should have scanned his breakfast at McDonalds. It would have probably combusted, if they had barcodes, which they don't. I have copied and pasted the following information I got on Google.

“Yuka is a mobile app that allows users to scan barcodes of food and cosmetic products, providing a health score based on the ingredients listed, essentially giving you a quick way to assess how healthy a product is by using a color-coded system, with green indicating good and red indicating poor, and providing detailed information about the ingredients within the product; it is considered an independent app, meaning no brands can influence its ratings or recommendations.

Key points about Yuka: 

Function: Scans product barcodes to analyze ingredients and provide a health score. 

Assessment criteria: Evaluates products based on nutritional value, additives, and organic aspects. 

Color-coded system: Uses a green, yellow, and red color scheme to quickly indicate a product's health rating. 

Transparency: Claims to be independent, with no influence from brands or manufacturers on product evaluations. 

Applicability: Can be used to scan both food and cosmetic products”

And there you go, Yuka!

I texted with my brother-in-law in Germany and he saw we were under a blanket of snow and wanted to make sure we were okay. I sent him some snow photos. He’s a sweet guy! I assured him all was well. We will be chatting on FaceTime this weekend. 

A bit dreary and are off to my appointment on the freeway. 

Thursday, February 13th, 2025 at 11:34 a.m: 

I am back from physiotherapy. Everyone, from the staff to their clients were very quiet today, including me, all six of us. I started just before 8.00 a.m. We left the house a half-hour earlier. I literally found myself, between knee massage and waiting for the first exercise, about three minutes, dropping off. Snoozing, not dropping off the table, (though there was one precarious moment when I got myself up from lying down too quickly and the table shifted). When the young man came up to me and said something, I didn't hear him the first time. I heard him say to Gregg a bit surprised, "Is she asleep?” I was in that half-way world and woke up with a start. 

We are on the hospital grounds here. The building I go in is on the right. The car in the distance is where we turn to get to the entrance. The multi-story parking lot is on the left where Gregg parks our car.

I twisted my knee a little while stepping down from the house to the garage. There are two steps. We have it on our list to build a third to make less-steep steps and put rails on each side. They always give me the heebie-jeebies even before I had this knee problem. He has added it to his list. A few years ago I rolled my ankle on them when stepping down to the concrete flooring, and had a very painful sprain that lasted for weeks. I have had my issues. Now husband goes first and helps me down but I was born awkward and gave my knee an extra twinge today.

That yellow sign says it all doesn't it?

When I met my Physiotherapist, I told her about it, hoping she would go gently, and she did for the most part, but I noticed I had a few extra exercises. Won't go into it as I said enough last week. I'm still happy with them all, good people, very caring and I am thankful. But guess what? That was my last session! I am on my own now and will continue the exercises I was given at home. I have been staring at this little note on their exit door for weeks. I guess a lot of people forget.

Next will be an appointment with my doctor to see what’s what. 

It was very foggy this morning but rush hour wasn't so bad. Drizzly too, a wintry-mix day for sure. Now the sun looks like it is trying to peek through, but the cloud cover was totally socked in when we were out.

The Yuka app totally yelled at us after our trips to our usual treat places on our way back home. We promised we would do better tomorrow. 

Onto something else, if you click on this link, it will take you to an AMA YouTube video where you can see updated news on various health issues in the US, including bird flu.

So sorry my little buddies!

Gregg is at our car dealership again. We heard some intermittent scratching sounds in the back of the car near the wheels (when we were driving home this morning). He thought we may have picked up something off the road. There was nothing stuck underneath when he checked. He thought we might have to have our brake pads replaced. He took the car in shortly after we got home. (Added note: the man who looked at our car couldn't find anything wrong. This is the same man who found the hundreds of sunflower seeds tucked away under the hood a few months back. I wrote about it in this post towards the end of the page.) This latest noise he thought it might be because we had picked up rock salt from the road and by the time he drove the car to the dealership, they were probably dislodged. Keeping fingers crossed.

Had a short chat with son who called up to find out how my appointment went. Not a long chat as he was busy. Later he went out to lunch and sent us photos. (We send photos back and forth during the week. I sent him the crows on the sign.) This one was from a bagel shop that is new to the area. I love the name of it. 

The sandwich he ordered looked yummy. It was called The Mountain View - mashed avocado, bodega-style eggs and latke. American and Cheddar cheese on a plain bagel. 

He also sent the menu. Mother wants details. I am preparing a folder of places, eateries, etc., to take our company to in April. Just a reminder, you can enlarge all photos by clicking on them if you would like a better look.

At 3:35 p.m., it is 54 degrees F.  The snow has melted a lot off our deck already. Next Thursday we are going to have more snow. That may change between now and then, here’s hoping. 

Friday, February 14th, 2025 at 9.07 p.m: Valentine’s Day! I have Ann’s lovely card on the mantle, have looked at it every day since it arrived and still I forgot it was Valentine’s Day, we both did. Thanks again Ann, your card is beautiful!  We, however, did nothing special in the way of celebrating. It was just a regular day. Nothing special to eat either. What a couple of fuddy-duddy’s we are getting but at least we have Ann's pretty card to remember. I will do better next year.

Next I have added a funny picture for you. I texted it to Gregg as he was on his sofa kitty corner to the one I was on. Yes I could have walked over but I wanted to see his expression when he received it. I don’t think Christine will mind me using it as I found it on her blog here. Thanks Christine! Gregg asked me what I had sent as he heard the ping and saw my name pop up on his iPad. I wanted to give him a chuckle when he opened it. I told him it was his Valentine Card from me. A few seconds later he laughed out loud. This is so us and like I said, Fuddy-Duddies! 

Saturday, February 15th, 2025 at 8:30 p.m: husband just left. He and son are off on a trip into Maryland today and will be gone for a good part of the day. I will keep myself well occupied.

I have already found an interesting artist and you may have seen him before. Lito Leaf Art and the article is an interview with the artist, which is very interesting. His art is extraordinary and fascinating, done on leaves. You can go to this website to see him. Delicate, incredible, beautiful! 

I am off to fix breakfast and you know what that will be. It begins with a ‘W’.

For lunch I had a jacket potato topped with half a cup of baked beans.

Dinner was one of the scallion pancakes topped with half a cup of mashed sweet potato, and then a poached egg on top of that.

Snack was a bowl of Skinny Popcorn.

All through the day I drink water and an occasional glass of juice with breakfast, sometimes orange, sometimes pineapple. In the morning there is a cup of black coffee. Afternoon is green tea and evening is Chamomile with honey and vanilla.  

Gregg came home around six and as they had eaten a late lunch, he wasn’t hungry. They had a great time but drove home in rush hour and heavy rain. Son does all the driving until they reach his place.

Sunday, February 15th, 2025 at 6.20 p.m: son came over and we got so busy no one thought of breakfast. We also wanted to call my brother-in-law while he was here. It's been a while since they chatted. They get on really well together which is very heartwarming for me. The conversation lasted for over an hour, until it was time for son to pick up our dear daughter-in-law.

So what did we have for a late lunch/early dinner? A simple BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on toasted wheat bread). The chef once again put this together. We had a small avocado each somewhere in between and the bowl of skinny popcorn just now. I think that will do us for today. I will be going in and fixing my cup of chamomile in a bit.

I drew a Blue Jay from a photo I took. The proportions are a bit off but I am working on that. I still have to look at some YouTubes on sketching. It was fun to do. (This was actually done on Monday, 17th February, so I should have included it in next week's happenings, but I had forgotten to do a sketch in the last, so here it is.)

I think that's about it for this week. Thanks for reading my epistle of the mundane, and have a wonderful day. Hopefully you have plenty of sunshine in your part of the world.