The crusty snow is still around us. I keep taking trips down ‘memory lane’ and today it’s ventured to the beach. I’m having sinus problems now (especially on the right where I had the new crown inserted), so I wish I was taking a deep breath of fresh salt air. We are experiencing warmer temps today, so that means the heat won’t run as much! Yeah!

When you live in suburban Philadelphia, taking summer trips to the New Jersey shore is just something that you do almost every year. If you don’t go just one year, you miss it!

I love Cape May where the streets are lined with Victorian houses. We stayed in one only once-Poor Richard’s Inn– (the room we stayed in on the second floor has been redone since 1999).

The parking is horrible, but to sit on the porch on the second floor and watch the people go by at night was pretty neat. So was using the bathroom down the narrow, winding staircase (reminded me of a cover of a Nancy Drew book). The beach was a stone’s throw away.

Lately we’ve headed to the beaches of Delaware and Maryland for a change of pace. We live about an hour closer. My brother and his family go to Ocean City, MD every year. It’s a huge place and you hardly feel crowded out while sunbathing and enjoying the ocean. Unfortunately, the Jersey beaches tend to get crowded-well Wildwood has such a wide beach, so not so much. The boardwalks are usually crowded at night. People walking off sunburns and eating fattening foods like salt and vinegar fries or huge ice cream cones seem to be in a happy, but tired daze. I love to look out on the dark expanse of beach and to hear the waves crashing on shore. Sometimes there are bands on the beach and that’s a cool experience to stand in the dark watching the lit up stage. I also love to walk by the outdoor restaurants and check out what people are noshing on.

I always have to go to the cross stitch shop on 8th and Broadwalk called ‘Salty Yarns’ when we vacation in OC, MD. It’s a pretty decent shop and I always have to get ‘a prize’ to remember my trip to the beach.

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I have some bananas that need to be used or tossed. I figure if I make a cake that will get my mind off my sinuses. I found a recipe for a pineapple/banana cake. Yum! Toto is watching over that piece I just cut!

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Ice falling off vehicles has been a terrible hazard around these parts! There have been a few people on the news, one of which was a 2 yr old boy-so sad-his lips were all swollen from a hunk of ice that flew off a van (his mom said the size of her windshield) and crashed into their windshield! Mom is 38 weeks pregnant. Was she ever lucky just to have cuts on her face.

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and to end on a happier note (while I hope the music has helped)
Jo, my heART winner received her goodies-they all arrived in New Zealand fine. Thanks for the nice post Jo!