My 55th Birthday Wedding

Since my blog is up-to-date, I decided to post some pictures from the past. This wedding photo is not of an actual wedding but, the wedding birthday party given to me by my friends. It was my 55th birthday and my friends and I were discussing what I wanted to do for my birthday. I made a comment about not having had a formal wedding when I was young. I had realized that I wanted to experience that after taking an art therapy seminar on which I had put a wedding gown on my collage. With that comment, a wedding celebration was born. My dear, sweet, loving friends gave me a full on wedding ceremony complete with formal invitations, a minister (one of the friends), decorations, reception with cake and presents, maid of honor, groom and guests. My Mom gave me away. When I set out to find a wedding gown, a voice in my head was telling me to go to Goodwill in Bordentown. I followed that voice and when I arrived, I saw the gown hanging in the display window. I went inside, asked to see the gown, tried it on and believe it or not, it was a perfect fit. I walked out of Goodwill with my white wedding gown. My maid of honor wore a gown she had worn at a real wedding. Everyone dressed up. The ceremony was held in the flower decorated back yard with wedding bells and streamers. The reception was held at the club house in the development. One of my friends was the DJ, oh, I must mention that my friend Ken was the groom. We had a bouquet toss and a garter toss. It was awesome! It was without a doubt the best birthday I ever had and a perfect wedding ceremony. All of us agreed that Martha Stewart had nothing on us. We are without a doubt, expert party planners. Give us a theme and we will create the party. Anyone need a party planner?

My nemesis, Sophia

Where's the water? I just ran my tail off.

Stacy and I took Sophia to the dog park and she actually made friends with a big dog. This is highly unusual for Sophia. She's usually too busy barking at other dogs to take time to make friends with them.

A trip to Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ 1/23/10.

After we toured the aquarium we sat on this bench outside to soak up the sun as it was a warm, and very sunny day. Anita has a picture on her phone that has the three of us lined up on the bench but, we haven't downloaded it yet. This picture should technically be at the bottom of the post as it was at the end of the day. We are squinting since the sun was in our eyes.

The Philadelphia skyline as seen from outside the aquarium. I was comparing it to the New York skyline and noticing how much smaller it is. This is the spot where I stand to watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve. The fireworks are shot from a barge in the river. That's the Delaware River between us.

A lion fish.

One of the big sharks. I took this picture from inside the tunnel that goes beneath the largest fish tank, if you call it a tank.

A rear view of a porcupine. We were thrilled to learn that there is a porcupine that resides in the hippo enclosure. The trainer brought it right over to the glass right in front of where we were standing. I was surprised to learn that it is a rodent. I had hoped to get a shot of it's head but it was too busy eating to pose for pictures.

There are two hippos at the aquarium and they are my favorite attraction. The children usually have to pull me away from watching the hippos. They also don't like the fact that it's a bit smelly in that exhibit area. But, you can feed the free flying birds who will take food out of your hand.

This octopus was active and very entertaining.

Giant Japanese crabs.

Me, touching the sharks. Two of those sharks came at me, at separate times, with a vengence, their heads out of the water and their teeth bared. I thought they were going to bite my fingers. The attendant announced over her mic that folks should let the sharks settle down before trying to touch them. As far as we could see, I was the only person who was approached, in that manner, by the sharks. Anita claims they didn't like me for some reason.

We took Stacy to the Aquarium for her first visit. She left there feeling sad for the large creatures that are enclosed in tiny tanks and for the hippos who possibly may never get to go outside. Some examples are the Giant Japanese Crabs, the octopus, the king size lobster and many, many other species of fish in small tanks.

Antonio has a birthday-now he's 12!!!!! -Jan. 20, 2010

Antonio turns 12! This is the 4th year that he has requested a fish cake. The first one was green. This year's is made very colorful with the help of M&Ms. For some reason, when I uploaded the fish picture, it turned so the fish is standing on it's head. Oh well, if you turn your head sideways, you can look at it straight. So, thanks to Antonio, we eat a chocolate fish once a year. Happy Birthday Antonio. We love you so much. You are a super kid!!!!!

A Castle made from recyled products-A Class Project-Jan. 2010

This is Anita's castle made from recycled products. There is a lot of detail inside the castle that I'm not showing but it was really cool!!!!! There was a kitchen house, a chapel, a water well, and many other features. I was totally impressed with her design. Antonio was instrumental in building objects for the castle with toothpicks. When she mentioned that her teacher gave this assignment and it had to fit on the desktop, I thought, how??? When I dropped her off at school the day the castle was due in class, I was impressed at the many castle designs that I saw being carried into school that morning. I would have loved to have gone to school to view all of the castles, in detail, in the form of an art show. The creativity must be astounding!

Mercer Oak branch from 300 yr. old tree in Princeton

This branch is from the great Mercer Oak that was felled in March, 2000 by a storm. I went to see the fallen tree and collected the branch, thinking, this has historic value. I've now had the branch for 10 years. The 10th anniversary is this March 2010. I also captured the park ranger, in revolutionary garb, talking on his cell phone. To me, that was a classic shot. There were folks who cried at the loss of the tree that sat majestically in Battlefield Park in Princeton. A place where General George Washington walked. Besides the branch, I have newspaper articles, pictures and a commemorative plate. When I was walking from the site, another onlooker suggested that if I buy root grow that I could possibly get the branch to root and grow. That didn't happen for me. The root grow didn't work. I did put the branch in water and the buds started to open. That occurrence, to me, was exciting. So, due to it's historic value, I decided to share the branch with everyone who shares my blog. A chef from a local, prominent restaurant, carried branches that he planned to burn, to cook fish for the evening's menu. He was going to offer the feature of a meal cooked over the coals of the great Mercer Oak. In the place now of the great Mercer Oak is a sapling from the tree, donated by a resident of Princeton who had it growing in her yard. So you see, even though I didn't succeed at rooting my branch, the tree lives on in its' sappling. I should go to the park and snap a picture of the sapling to add to the story of it's mother tree. I will post it at a later date.

Spotted robins today 1/18/10

Okay. I know you can barely see the robin but, it did appear. I spotted several robins across the street in the neighbor's sunny yard. I took their picture, using only one, from my upstairs bedroom window using the zoom feature on my camera. I admit it looks a little scrawny but, hey, it's still winter after all. I'm surprised they're here after the cold spell we had last week. Their appearance confirms I wasn't hearing things when I heard a robin sing a few days ago.

A firework for the New Year - 2010

Surprise, surprise, I actually didn't take pictures at the fireworks on New Year's Eve sooooo, I decided to throw this one in for effect. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

New Year's Eve 12/31/09.....Traditional Celebration with my Friends

New Year's Eve and my traditional celebration with friends. Our first stop "Red Lobster" where I had the hugest lobster tail I've ever seen. There were four of us this year. Friends, Aileen, Cathy, Audrey and I started out the evening at 5 PM. Mary Ann and Rosemary, you were missed. It just occurred to me that our New Year's Eve celebration tradition has been in continuation since 1989. Good friends, good times always.

After dinner, as is our usual, we moved on to the movies. From that point, after the movie, Cathy and Audrey left for home. Aileen and I hung around the mall and chatted on a bench since it was raining outside and we didn't want to be out in the rain until it was time to leave for the fireworks. At the appropriate time we headed to Camden, to the waterfront across from Penns Landing, taking our time because of the rain (thank God it wasn't icy). We were happy to find that the rain had lessened when we got there. We had a few homemade chocolate chip cookies in the car (thanks to Aileen) then covered up in our rain gear and headed over to the rail to watch the fireworks. The walkway was icy and slippery so I held onto the rail. The fireworks did not disappoint. They are so worth the hour ride to put the finishing touch on the year. Some years there are four of us, sometimes three and this year two. Thank you Aileen for joining me for our yearly tradition, in spite of the weather. I enjoyed our visiting and talking and, sharing the fireworks with you. All of my friends and family know of my obsession for fireworks. And, they all are good sports when I ask them to accompany me to watch many displays. I am so blessed. When are the next fireworks??????? I'm on my way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I wish all the best for health, prosperity and serenity for 2010. Anyone who wishes to is welcome to join me for fireworks this year. Fireworks are exhilarating!.

My Christmas gift from daughters Donna & Debbie....a day in Cape May, NJ 12/30/09

This year, as last, I was given the best Christmas gift from daughters Donna and Debbie. Their gift is to spend a day with them, doing something that we love, on the 30th of December. Last year, we ventured to NYC and enjoyed the vibrant holiday splendor that only New York can provide. This year took us to Cape May, NJ where we shopped the mall, taking in all of the gift shops that were open (we all love shopping), dinner at the victorian Merion Inn and a trolley ride to view Christmas lights on the victorian houses. As was the case last year, I thoroughly enjoyed spending alone time with my two lovely daughters. Thank you so much girls. I hope that this tradition will continue for years to come. Where shall we go next year? The time we spend together will always be embedded deep in my heart and your warmth will fill me with joy. You can't know how thrilled I was when I learned that we would again spend a day together as we did last year. This is beyond special.

We took a short break from our shopping to take some pictures.

This guy was like the official greeter on the mall, that, didn't have too many people walking around. As the sun set it became cooooold!

The mall as the sun was setting.

Donna looked down at her gloved hand and noticed that her diamond ring found it's way through the weave. We thought that was pretty cool, thus, the picture.

Some shots from Cape May Beach 12/30/09 - Cold enough to give us red noses!

These long legged beauties in front of me were able to exit the cold windy beach faster then short legged me. Merion Inn here we come!

We enjoyed dinner at the Merion Inn (victorian of course) and this picture shows Deb wondering about the weird shaped piece of bread. Donna, you look adorable. Deb, your expression is priceless. And, it was a really weird piece of bread. We were glad to reach the inn as we had just walked out to the beach to see the sunset and were ready to go indoors. The trolley tour to see the Christmas lights was scheduled for after dinner. We sang Christmas carols as we rode the trolley, something I enjoyed a lot. Oh! our meal was awesome too.

A very nice gentleman took this picture for us at the end of our day. On the mall the wind wasn't so bad but, when we were lined up to ride the trolley and the street was open toward the beach, it was freezing cold and windy. The trolley was a welcome respite from the wind.

Christmas Day 2009 - Open House at Deb & Dave's

Christmas Day, 2009, was spent at "THE" open house above all others at daughter Deb's and son-in-law Dave's home. The collection of pictures below are just a glance at us enjoying ourselves with great food, wonderful stories, laughter and overall merriment. This is a general grouping with other specific photos and explanations below. Thanks so much Deb, Dave and grandson Davey for all the work you put into this special gathering. It meant more to me then I can express to be with the whole family to celebrate this holiday. And, thank you to all of my family members, especially all of the grandchildren. It was wonderful to see all 12 of you. I am so blessed. I soooo miss the days when all of you were younger and we spent a lot more time together. You are always with me in thought and in my heart. You are cherished.

Demolition time for the gingerbread house. Each person had their eye on a particular goodie. Rich, Di's significant other, went at it with a vengence.