Category Archives: New Jersey

Jan3

2011 in retrospect

Posted on Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Dianne

I’ve been a bit busy with work on New Year’s day (12-6, very boring) and running around to after Christmas sales with Brian on Monday. He goes back to work today. I was thinking though 2011 didn’t start out that great, we still got the nice 2005 Mariner at the end of January:

It was my vehicle for a few months until we spotted this one on the internet in July:

Yikes….it’s not a Ford/Mercury (my family loves Fords) and now we have two car payments a month for the next several years. I do love my little Ina who just turned 10. I’ve only seen two other gold PT Cruisers since July. She’s a rare one in these parts.

We decided we needed to take a few trips, not a week…but usually one or two nights.

First we went to Baltimore, MD and loved it there!

Baltimore’s World Trade Center

And we took the ‘side trip’ from Baltimore to Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write our national anthem ‘The Star Spangled Banner’.

(Opps-that’s my funny shot)

We got to see Chincoteague Island and really loved the place too!

Because we had the Mariner, we got to travel more than we had in previous years.

Sean and I saw the taping of a local Philly talk show and one of the guests was ace Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee!

We went to the tribute band event ‘Beatlemania’ down in National Harbor, MD

We took a little time to see Alexandria, VA. and liked it there as well.

At the end of September, we finally got to go to a mini reunion for my high school class in Ocean City, NJ! It was fun and we enjoyed seeing the town of OC and Cape May, NJ also. My mom was along for that trip.

Brian took me up to York, PA again in October so I could attend the rubber stamp and scrapbooking show and we looked around the town a bit, not as much as I would have liked. But we went over to Mount Joy so we could eat at Bubbe’s Pub.

I got to see my little pal Nick and his mom Jenn on his second birthday when we spent the day at Longwood Gardens:

And oh Longwood…I really went there so many more times than I have in the past and hope to do so this year too!

And the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in November up in Oaks, PA was fun too-never been to that either. I found some nice gifts for people there.

So, it was a good year that we got to go places and see new things. We got to spend time with old and new friends and our family. I always like spending time with Brian and Sean, but this group-my ‘almost’ children (and mom too). : )

I want to get back on the weight loss track, one reason I posted photos of me at different angles. I plan to keep walking in the lovely local park and Longwood too!

And I can’t forget about getting the job. I’m wondering if I’ll still be there next week, only time will tell! If not, I’ll be taking a break for a month or so to get the house in shape and do some art.

Oct20

Stayin’ Alive…after 34 yrs!

Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

What I did most of the Wednesday evening (my gift to the gang from the Class of ’77):

Sep27

Quaintness

Posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Steps of The Poor Richard Inn, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I don’t remember ever being near the beach at this time of the year, so we got to see pumpkins, mums and other autumnal decor. This is the steps of the Poor Richard Inn where we stayed back in 1999.

Gingerbread trim is so pretty!

The landscaping was gorgeous. Love the Mandevilla on this unique lamppost. This home was built in the 1880s!

You know I love gazing balls.

These are clever decorations. As mentioned below, this is the door to The Virgina Hotel where my maternal grandparents honeymooned in 1921.

Cute elf butterfly catcher

The arcade where we played games in the summer of 1967

The sky was rather ominious!

Cute tour trolley. Missed the horse drawn carriages.

‘The Empress’ what an amazing ‘private home’! I couldn’t get it all in one photo!

The Empress was built with the purpose of opening as a bed and breakfast. And yes, it is as neat and mysterious inside as one would expect– not that we’ve seen it first hand (the owner is out of the country) but we’ve chatted with a couple of people who have been inside and have had a look at the original blueprints. It has eight guest rooms, each themed after a queen – hence the name, “The Empress.” Each guest room has its own luxurious bathroom, also themed with regard to European tiles and decor. At the ground level, blueprints show a spacious parlor with a fireplace, an adjacent living room, also with fireplace, a dining room and big gourmet kitchen.
From: Capemay.com

The garden of ‘The Empress’
I have to say I was so exhausted from having about 7 hours of sleep in 2 days. I had tossed and turned the night before going to the beach and that night, even though we turned the lights off at 12:30, the air conditioning, light peeking in through the slants in the blinds and my mom being noisy (when she takes out her hearing aides, she doesn’t know how loud she is). We had a little trouble finding Cape May (feel dumb-a few towns over) as the GPS wasn’t working that great.
Here are a few scenes from Ocean City, NJ

Not too many 5&10s around! It was a cute store with lots of marked down merchandise that mom enjoyed going through.

Neat window of a consignment shop

Not too bad of a beach day

Where we met the gang for breakfast…mom bought ‘a baker’s dozen’ of their famous cinnamon donuts and they didn’t last long-only had two in three days. The car smelled so good.

If I won the lottery!!

My pal Heather and me. Many of the ladies came down together and hung out together, just like high school. I hung out mostly with Heather (she was solo) and Sue and her hubby.
And last but not least, our photo booth shots-so crazy!

Pin It

Sep26

The road home

Posted on Monday, September 26, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

Reminds me of a song…, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

We thought the sky was so unusual last night, that I took a photo through the windshield while Bri was driving on the Atlantic City Expressway.
We were tired today, but it was nice to see some familar faces and places. I will get to a post maybe tomorrow about the trip.
We had the heater looked at again. Water is now coming in our chimney, so the repairman thinks. He pushed a button and it came back on again, but we need to get the chimney capped.
I am going to get my dishwasher looked at. I’ve been handwashing dishes (Bri helps) since March. I was just waiting to pay off my microwave and a warranty for the clothes washer. Wish appliances lasted longer than 5 yrs!

Aug26

Getting prepared

Posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 by Dianne

Standard

This is a scary, bustling time here. Definitely the calm before the storm. Today I was moving plants and stacking chairs up. I filled both watering cans, a metal bucket and the garden cart with water. When you have a well, when the power goes out, so does the ability to flush a toilet. We learned the hard way back in 1998 when we didn’t have power for 3-4 days. Brian was getting water from the stream out back to use. Not a pleasant experience. I am making ice, but bought a bag for the big cooler. I did get to the store. We have several groceries stores within a 5 mile radius, so I chose one outside of Kennett and it wasn’t bad at all. It’s funny what people buy when they think they will be stuck inside. Other than water, lots of canned nuts were gone. Not a lot of meat was purchased. Like me, they are worried about wasting money on food that may spoil. I bought tuna, soup, crackers, pudding, celery, and other things that may be easy to eat. I figure we could do soup on the grill. I’ll have to be really hungry to eat it that way though. ; ) I cooked half a dozen hard-boiled eggs and also some bacon. I boiled up some pasta. I think we will be okay, much more prepared than all those years ago. We have lots of bottled drinking water. I’m more worried about my two large windows. I told Brian we need to make sure there isn’t any metal that will be flying around the yard. Of course another thing is 6-10 inches of expected rain that may have no where to go. We just had a lot of rain yesterday. Last year we had an issue with water pouring out of where the hole in the wall is for the well, not fun. I was thinking if we used the big funnel (we have) at the end of a hose and had the other end in the big sink in the basement, that may work or help. We have a few things to figure out, but I am worried about all the stuff in that basement. I’ve been wanting help to clean it out for years, we do a piddly clean up and stop. I do have a terrible dust allergy and I got pneumonia after putting Christmas stuff away last year. Not sure if that’s a connection, but it could be. It’s been smelling musty, so I put on the portable fan and spray Lysol aroun. If you don’t hear from me for a while, you know we lost power. I will try to ‘tweet’ until the phone battery goes (I’d have to charge it up again in the car) which shows up in the left side bar. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as I will you who may be affected by this monster storm.

Aug19

Pickle Power!

Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 by Dianne

Standard

We’re having a warm and sticky week. I go sit outside for about 10 minutes and come back in to the a/c. Since the tomatoes went bust, we have been lucky to get the cherry and grape ones, but the cucumbers really took off. Yesterday I made refrigerator pickles with about 7 cups of sliced cukes, vinegar, sugar, salt,chopped onion and dillweed. Needless to say, the guys have been dipping into the container a few times. They are really easy to make!

One of big hibiscus flowers (I grew the plants from seed about 4 yrs ago) broke off, so I brought it in. The deer usually make a meal out of these, but I have some blooming this year.

Today I was tidying up my living room area as that is where I will sit the priest when he visits on Monday as we hardly use this area. My craft stuff is tucked in every nook and cranny since I have so much of it now. Yes, I will downsize and keep things I really like (one of these days).
My brother is working on the air in my van. I just can’t drive with the windows open. My class is having a get-together at the beach at the end of September and Brian said we could attend. It’s in Ocean City, but I’d like to find a room in Cape May and drive over to the get-together. When we were there last week, it was a tease for mom and me as we hardly saw anything as it started to rain and we had to leave.
Guess I’ll be headed to my hometown tomorrow to get my van. Hope the weather holds out. We lost power for two hours last night from mostly gusty winds. That makes 12 hours without power in the last month.

Aug17

Cape May lighthouse and birdhouse in foreground

Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 by Dianne

Standard

Cape May lighthouse and birdhouse in foreground, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

I thought this was a neat photo. They had several of the birdhouses in this area as there is a bird statuary near by.

Look familiar? Same lighthouse above!

Aug16

Stitch by Stitch sign in Cape May

Posted on Sunday, August 16, 2009 by Dianne

Standard

Stitch by Stitch sign in Cape May, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

For all my fellow stitchers-indeed!
Lee over at Lake Stitcher mentioned this store and of course it was one of the first places I snooped out when we were in Cape May last week! I didn’t photograph the store, it was tiny, jammed packed and the walls were covered with finished pieces. I had my mom with me. You know I worry about what she can possibly do with the condition of her eyesight. She picked up a chart with about 20 color changes per line that I wouldn’t even tackle! I found a blackwork of some of the Victorians in tiny form and she said she wanted it too. I told her to save her money and I would lend it to her. I also bought a kitty kit over one of the newer The Prairie*Schoolers. How can they sell the leaflets for over $9 now??-I got the kit with the fabric, design and floss for the same price. I’ll share what it is when I find it. ; )
The building you see in the background are retirement apts. Can you imagine living a few blocks from the beach and across the street from a cross stitch store? The only thing it is missing is a place to garden, but I didn’t see the entire place.
I haven’t done that much cross stitch lately. I’ve been pretty steady with it for over 10 years and I have found other hobbies with the satisfaction of completing things in a shorter amount of time and being able to swap them with others. I still love cross stitch, but I want to finish one thing before starting another. I really need to go through my 2 crates, big plastic box and library of books and downsize. That may be my project for the cooler months.
It’s a sizzler here-haven’t been out today yet!
Tomorrow, hopefully my brother will look at the a/c in my van and also check out the transmission which seems to slip once in a while. I’m also getting my hair done by his wifey, so I hope he can help me out. I have to get her birthday things together. She’s only turning 39!
Stay cool!

Aug13

Back home again

Posted on Thursday, August 13, 2009 by Dianne

Standard

We had a few ‘interesting’ days away-10 mile back-up Monday for ‘nothing’ except a part of the Garden State Expressway had one line and one truck blocking a lane. It took 1.5 hours to go 10 miles-the worst traffic jam ever.

But we got to see sights like this: