Big Back Yard

I'll miss our big back yard. After all the work is done it really looks quite pleasing to the eye.

 

 

It's a good work-out mowing and walking up and down fertilizing the grass. Och.

 

 

New Construction

This big back yard of ours seems to get bigger and bigger each year. We finally decided in December of 2012 to move. Yes, after 29 years living in the same house we shall be packing up and heading out.

But, where to move to?!  Florida sounds appealing, as does Hilton Head Island. But do we REALLY want to move so far away? Not yet. The main reason for moving is to get away from the gigantic backyard, so, a patio or carriage home would be ideal.

Off we went to scout out the patio homes. Ha ha. Locations weren't so good as they were out in the country. Some only had a fence separating the patios. Plus they shared a wall. Guess we're just too unsociable, but we prefer our privacy!

To cut a long story short, we decided on what is called a villa. It's a single-family house, with not much at all in the way  land. We've to pay a maintenance fee which will cover grass cutting, snow removal, etc. The land is so tiny, that we wouldn't have any problem doing it ourselves! But, that's the way it goes. Now, which makes a person go completely and crazily crazy? Selling a house, or buying a new one?! Right now, both are taking up lots of time and causing lots of worry. So many odd jobs around our house to take care of, so much painting.  As for the new house- choosing flooring, kitchen cabinets, faucets, etc. is a never-ending process. You just choose something and then you begin to wonder if you chose wisely!

Stay tuned. Maybe finally we'll get our house ready to go on the market. We're to close on the new house at the end of June.

Cleaning and Beaming

Now that we have decided to sell our house I've been cleaning and cleaning, polishing and polishing, scrubbing and scrubbing until everything is sparkling. I can even see my face in the door hinges, just beaming away!

I have scraped up old paint blobs on the front porch left over from years of painting the shutters. Always meant to clean up after painting, but never seemed to get around to it. Now I'm paying the price.

Cleaning door handles and glaring at the old front windows which we should have perhaps replaced when we replaced the other windows in the house.

Been donating items to charities, selling things, muttering to myself the whole time whether something is useful or not.  I have so much space now!  Yet, I've become so organized that now I don't know where anything is!

Memorabilia - First World Country Problems

Years ago my mother gave me items commemorating Princess Diana. She thought they'd go up in value. Hmm.

There's this nice, brand new tray. Nobody has ever used it.

Here's a 1998 calendar, never opened. I think I bought that for myself all those years ago. I must have thought it'd go up in value too.

This is a brand new tea towel my mother gave me. Very colourful.

I even kept this Time magazine as it has a special report about Princess Diana.

Now, I doubt if any of these items has actually increased in value. I have tried selling them on Craigslist. Since I don't know how much to charge I just put "make an offer".  Nobody ever did make an offer. I just recently tried to sell the above items on a local website where I live. Do you think anyone wants these things?  Nope. Nobody got back to me.

I hate to throw them out. I don't really want to keep them either.

Guess this just one of those problems of living in the suburbs in a first world country. Dear oh dear.

Days of Wine and Roses

What happened to 2012?! Just too much procrastination going on around here, and
too many flowers and other inebriating delights swirling around.

Hmm. January of 2012 had us in Puerto Rico

and Saint Maarten.


 April, we were back at Massanutten, Virginia. August, we were in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, and in October we were at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and also Massanutten.

Grout, Education and the Easy Life

Have you ever heard anyone tell you that something was easy, really easy, to do? I have. Not only that, I actually believed them. Many are the voices that reverbated through my head as I gamely laid the mosaic tile and later grouted. (Does that word really exist? I grouted. You grouted. He grouted. We all grouted.) Yes, I finally grouted. My fingers had to work overtime as the grout slid off the wall constantly and landed in great big lumps on the shower floor. I had to push the grout into every nook and cranny. So much for the 45 degree angle idea using the whatever- it's -called instrument.

Have you seen advertisements for easy ways to learn a foreign language? Spanish in ten minutes a day, Spanish for dummies, and the list goes on. Who are these people claiming that it is easy to learn a foreign language? Or, indeed, that it is easy to learn anything?

Nothing is easy. All things can be easy, but only once you know how to do them. I still don't know how to lay tile or grout. I know the theory, but I need to practice and practice and practice. Easier said than done. Motivation can help ease the eager to discover how easy it is to be an eager beaver.

People expect things to be easy. They no longer know what it's like to fail, or lose. From an early age they are pampered, patted on the head, even when their performance is poor. Isn't it better to teach children reality rather than indulge them in flights of fancy that they are the best, despite low grades, poor results? Why praise them with "Great job!" when they've actually done a pretty lousey job? Are we all so afraid that young people will crumble if we point out their shortcomings? Isn't it more to the point that young people need to be prepared for the future, a future which doesn't only include doting parents shielding them from criticism? And if they receive bad grades, tell them to study harder. Simple. There's no need to blame the class teacher, or the text books, for that matter. Now, that is easy.

Five Reasons You Know You Want To Go To The Beach

1.  You carefully clean away the cobwebs of your beach chairs lying against the wall in the garage.

2.  You smile at the your old shoes - the ones you wear when you walk along the beach.

3.  You buy sunscreen, a big hat, and wonder if you might actually get a tan this year.

4.  You inhale the salt air from the sea. But, wait a minute. You're at least a seven hour drive from the coast!

5.  You REALLY can hear the waves going in and going out and you REALLY can see the seagulls swooping down into the water.

Deer Down in Virginia

We spent a few nights at Massanutten, Virginia, up high in the mountains. The air is fresh and clean. Late afternoons you see the deer stroll by. They're not in the least bit afraid of people. I'm glad. It means that there are no hunters around.

British Foods and Shadows

Down here in Key West shadows creep up ye olde brick wall. It will be evening soon and the buskers will be out and about entertaining the crowds. There is a huge Disney ship docked just down the road a bit. Tourists saunter about in gaudy tee shirts and loose sandals, probably wishing they had worn a sweater.

I spy a shop that advertises British foods and jaunt over quickly to inspect the joyful joint. It does look joyful! I'm almost certain I'll be able to purchase good old Branston Pickle and maybe some Cadbury Flake. Yum. Digestive Biscuits too? Yummer yum.

Inside the shop I'm gazing on the foods I used to eat growing up in Scotland. Wine gums anyone? A girl in her twenties appears at my side, reeking of booze. She speaks with an English accent.

"I've been boozing it up all day." That was her, not me, speaking, by the way.
"Oh?" We British tend to be polite. I really wanted to say to her that I could tell she had been drinking for she stank like dried up pee and vomit.
"My tummy aches. I really need Andrews Liver Salts."
"They still make that?" I hadn't thought about Andrews Liver Salts in years.
"Of course. And I love it! It always does the trick. What are you going to be buying? Oh, look! Maltesers! I love Maltesers!"



I leave the drunken girl in the shadows of the shop, pleased with my purchases, and wonder if she was from the Disney Cruise ship? I'll never know.

Do you ever shop for British foods?

Finding Things

We were on a wee cruise. I really don't care much for cruises. I don't like all the food, and I don't like all the people, and I don't like the teeny room. Sorry, cabin.

Now this cruise turned out to be productive. Guess why?  

We we wandering around in the park in Saint Thomas, sat down to rest our weary bones. All of a sudden what do I spy, right before my eye?

A camera!

I pick it up. Look around. But there's nobody about. The camera was quite new. I think maybe the person who owned it was off one of the cruise ships. It was one of those small digital cameras. Quite handy. I looked at the photos in it to see if maybe I would be able to find the owner. The photos weren't very clear at all and there were only a few. 

Och well. Finders keepers...

Christmas and Hogmanay

ALL PHOTOS COPYRIGHTED SSTAAS

Christmas Eve in Virginia with nice long walks, and Christmas Day at home with presents galore. Hogmanay with friends afar.

Up and Down Steps in Mykonos

All photos copyrighted sstaas. All rights reserved.

Cruising up and down steps in Mykonos, Greece, is one charming way to spend an afternoon.



Who made Mykonos so cute? Every corner you turn it just gets cuter and cuter.

Excuse me while I run up and down steps in Mykonos. Can't help myself!

Cruising Along

All Photos Copyrighted sstaas. All rights reserved.

Know what's nice about cruising along? All the wonderful photos you take. At the time, you don't realise how wonderful they are. It's only once you're back home, in cold, dreary weather, that you appreciate the terrific images.

That first photo I took from the ship, the Celebrity Solstice, at Barcelona. That's where we left from on a 12 night cruise.



The photo above is of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

Know what else is nice about cruising along? You get to walk and walk, and walk some more, all the while carrying two cameras and going snap, snap, snap, trying to get that perfect picture.



The above photo I took at the end of the cruise, when we were back in Barcelona. What time of day was it? Yikes! It was way too early for me. But, everyone on the ship was up and leaving.

Bet you're dying to see other photos of the cruise! Stay tuned. As we move on into winter, these summer photos of Mykonos, Santorini, Kusadasi, Malta, Athens, and more are sure to wake you warm.