There are so many things I am thankful for this year. Of course I have the usual items on my list: family, friends and our health. I am grateful that we are nesting in our new home and creating a retirement life there. But also, high on my thanksgiving list is the ability to share my thoughts about retirement life in this blog. But it would not be any fun at all without someone to read it. So mostly, I am thankful for you dear readers. Thank you for taking the time out of your lives to read my string of words and to share your comments.
We are looking forward to going to son #2 and his family’s home for dinner this year. (It still seems strange that my kids are old enough to host a holiday.) They are both wonderful cooks, and we will all pitch in with the side dishes. One of my favorite things about this holiday is that we are not distracted and running around buying gifts or coloring eggs. The focus is on just being appreciative for life and our peeps that we share it with. Well… and the food… and football.
I hope you have a long list of things you are thankful for this year. Happy Thanksgiving!
I don’t know about you guys, but Halloween snuck up on me this year. Probably because of the move. Despite our new home being in disarray and still waiting on area rugs and a couple of chairs for the living room, we decided to have our annual soup and pumpkin carving get together last weekend. We could have easily skipped it this year, but you never know how many Halloweens you have left in you. I am glad we did it. The usual noise was doubled when you have wood floors without area rugs and nothing hung on the walls yet. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind. Well, except us older people that cannot hear as well under normal circumstances. Ahem.
It was surprising to me how much we lean into our routines. I have been doing this soup and pumpkin carving party for years, but everything was thrown up into the air in a new home. Where do we set up the tables? We have always taken a picture of the completed jack-o-lanterns in front of the fireplace. Where is the best spot to take that picture now? You have to rethink how you entertain in a new space.
I decided to add ghosts to my traditional pumpkin sugar cookies this year. I think I love them.
Gift bags were filled and ready for the trick-or-treaters.
The trick-or-treaters had some great costumes. The pumpkin carvers concentrating on their work.
From the minute the kids got in the door, they were asking when we were going to make “witch’s brew.” Mr. U started this tradition when our kids were little. We usually served it at birthday parties, right after the treasure hunt around the property. Once the grands came along, we moved it to the pumpkin carving party, and it is always a hit. The recipe is from a friend’s family cookbook that we received as a gift when we got married. It is a simple root beer recipe, but Mr. U makes it more interesting when they add ant’s blood (aka – root beer extract). But it is the dry ice that creates the magic. Be sure to have vanilla ice cream on hand to make root beer floats after the kids are done casting spells over it.
Making witch’s brew then – over 25 years ago (left) and now (right).
I have shared this root beer recipe before here but here it is again in case you have littles in your life, and you want to create some magic for them.
The finished products.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a fun, safe Halloween! We will be sitting at home with our feet up by the fire.
Feature photo credit to my amazing sister, who is always behind the scenes getting things done.
And all at once the rain stopped, the mud puddles dried up, and the blossoms opened. People crawled out of their stuffy homes with squinting eyes and exclaimed, “it is finally summer!”
We’ve had a busy few weeks with family in town, birthday celebrations and preparing to put our home on the market. We almost missed that summer arrived in the process. Yahoo! Let the blooming and sunshine begin.
I hope that you can take some time to enjoy the pleasures of summer: the first of the garden gifts, baby birds chirping to be fed, firing up the BBQ and having a meal al fresco, or a relaxing sunset at the end of a full day. It is the little things.
“Some of the best memories are made in flip-flops.”
Kellie Elmore
Cheers to the retirement years and the arrival of summer!
Easter means so many things: spring, new growth, hope, love and forgiveness. I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate. One of the ways we do that at our house is to host an extended family Easter brunch and egg hunt every year. We typically have between 30 – 40 people and so it is fun, delicious chaos. If you have followed my blog, you know that I am a big believer in traditions, particularly for kids, but even adults rely on these to build security and maintain a solid foundation. It makes you part of a tribe.
Whether your tribe is made up of friends or family does not matter, the benefits are the same. A tribe provides you with a sense of belonging. You have people you know that you can count on. You share an identity and often a history that cements the relationships. It is a support network. And research shows that being part of a community or tribe fosters mental and physical well-being. For a tribe to stay together you have to be willing to overlook irritations that will inevitably come up. You have to be committed to seeing the good in each other and overlooking any petty annoyances. It is all part of the give and take of making relationships work. The benefits are well worth it. So, if you do not have a tribe, start one. It just takes a few dedicated people to get the egg ball rolling.
I credit my mom (A Tribute to My Mom) and dad with starting and keeping our tribe together. They initiated so many of the family traditions that we carry on today and the Easter brunch and egg hunt is one of several. Since I am posting this pre-Easter this year, the pics are from last year’s brunch and egg hunt.
My dad smiling as he is surrounded by family on Easter. We are so blessed that he will be joining us again this year.
The Easter brunch
How do you feed 30-40 people in your house? With a lot of help from the tribe. Everyone pitches in and brings a dish to share. We have settled into a nice routine where one couple always brings the sausage, one the fruit, one the ham, another couple does the eggs, I make the cheesy potatoes dish, etc. It all works. My creative SIL always brings the bunny decorated cupcakes (featured image above) which is a big hit with the kids.
Tables are put up in almost every available space.
My brother and SIL scrambling the eggs at the last minute (left). There is never a shortage of food.
The Easter egg hunt
The week before Easter Mr. U and I spend a good hour filling plastic eggs with candy. Everyone brings eggs to hide too, but you can never have too many eggs at an egg hunt, right? A few golden eggs are filled with money to entice the older kids to keep hunting after the easy eggs have all been snatched up.
After brunch the adult hiders head outside to get creative with their hiding places. Anywhere within the designated area is open for hiding. No place is too high or too low to hide an egg. As the kids get older, the hiders have to get more creative to stump the finders. Of course, every year they are so creative that we find a well-hidden egg or two later in the summer.
The hiders will stop at nothing to stump the kids.
Son #2 is burying this egg in the ground.
The kids are corralled inside while the eggs are being hidden. Of course, they are trying to peak out windows to get a head start on where to find the eggs. When it gets close, the kids scramble to wait inside the door. We used to try and let the littlest kids out first, but that never really worked. Then we tried asking the older kids to leave the easy eggs for the littles, but that is impossible. Who takes the time to decide if that colorful egg is an easy one or not? Besides, who can pass on picking up an Easter egg right under your feet? Hence, why we just hide tons of eggs. There is more than enough to go around.
The kids waiting impatiently to be let out the door to start finding.
I wish you a very happy Easter however you like to celebrate it. It is the mark on the calendar that tells us sunnier days are coming. Enjoy!
Is it possible? Dare we think that spring is finally here? Officially, it is. Happy Dance! Today, March 20th, marks the first day of spring. Apparently, it was March 21st, but astronomers have moved it up to March 20th. I am good with that. One of the wonderful things about living in an area with four distinct seasons is that you really appreciate it when spring arrives. Never mind that we got about 3 inches of snow at our house earlier this week. The calendar does not know that. It melted quickly and underneath it were signs of spring popping up.
Underneath the snow the daffodils and rhododendrons were preparing to make their spring debut.
I know that most people try to get rid of moss, but I think it is beautiful.
It is hard to believe that the below picture was taken at our house just a little over a month ago.
Several inches of snow in our back yard on February 17th of this year.
The change of seasons never ceases to amaze me, but it is even more fun to watch it through a child’s eyes. We have our youngest granddaughter one day a week and she loves to be outdoors, no matter what the weather. It is hard to believe that the below pictures were taken exactly 3 weeks apart.
She was not thrilled with the bags I put over her new white tennis shoes to keep them clean.
Signs of warmer days are everywhere, even though there are a few patches of stubborn snow in the shady areas. The birds are singing, the squirrels are chirping, and the ice is off of the lake. Happy first day of spring everyone!
Lover of flip flops, waking up without an alarm, fireside chats, street tacos, waves lapping up on shore, creativity, family, the cork and all things garlic.
