To the Dump-dump-dump

One disadvantage to living in a rural area is the lack of garbage service to the home. We have to take our trash to the transfer center, or the dump as I like to call it.

Here's the back of our car all loaded up and ready for disposal:



Here's the recycling area...glass and plastic on one side, papers on the other.



I long for the days of curbside pickup! Now to get the smell out of the car...

Lazy, rainy day

It's been very dark and rainy all day. A great day for sleeping in. Unfortunately, school and work intervened. But all was well for the kitty.

Must be nice to lay around like that!

In Memory of our Fallen

Happy Memorial Day. This is a barn about 3 miles from our house on the main highway...it's starting to fall down a bit, so I'm glad I got a picture before it's torn down.

The small sign to the side says, "Dedicated to our Troops."

Never forget...

Down By the Bay

Today was a nice day...overcast and a little warm. We decided to head to a nice little restaurant off the Chesapeake Bay called Skipper's Pier. Good hush puppies and fried shrimp, but the crab cakes were EXPENSIVE!

Great view of the inlet and all the cool boats:

Love that boats can pull right up to the restaurant and come right in. Just please, no bare feet. :)

Very unsanitary! (And unappetizing! )

A Scout is Reverent

Today was the Archdiocese of Washington's annual celebration of those Boy and Girl Scouts who earned the religious emblem for their rank over the course of the last year. My friend Teresa and I were counselors for a group of 3 boys for the last emblem in Boy Scouting...the Pope Pius XII. Her son Stevie, JJ, and another boy, Justin, were our group. Justin was unable to attend the Board of Review, so he will receive his award next year. Today JJ and Stevie received their awards at a very nice ceremony in Laurel, followed by a reception. Since they both earned all 4 religious emblems in Boy Scouting, they also received an award called the Pillars of Faith, which only 2% of Catholic Boy Scouts attain.

Here is JJ receiving his Pillars of Faith award from Monsignor Brady:

And here he is in front of the church:

We are so proud!

Trumpets Sound...

Tonight was Nicky's last band concert. He is giving up trumpet to learn to play guitar in high school next fall. The concert tonight was pretty good...of course, I'm biased!

Here is Nicky with his trumpet:



If I'm honest, I've got to admit that I'm glad the concert days are over! But in a way, I'm rather sad. Now I'll have 2 wanna-be rock stars!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Here was my gift; I do love carnations!

We drove to Delaware today to visit Eric's parents and to wish his mom a Happy Mother's Day. His dad made a wonderful supper of grilled salmon, grilled corn on the cob and green beans. Mom made a mousse topped with ice cream. Yum!

Here are the kids with their Grandma:

It was a good day!

Watch the Birdie!

This was so cool. I caught a cardinal in the tree right outside our front door.

This one was a bit blurry, but I swear it was posing for me!

She's Ba-a-a-ack!

Way back in the last week of March, Eric was driving home from work when our Vibe died on the side of the road. We had it towed to our regular mechanic to have it fixed, and there ensued weeks of delays, wrong parts ordered, more problems, and such a comedy of errors on the part of the repair shop that if we hadn't been so angry, we would have laughed hysterically.

After a very long 6 weeks and 2 days of begging rides, taking the commuter bus, and general juggling of 4 schedules, our Pumpkin is home!



We are very grateful to be a 2-car family again! Here's hoping she really is fixed!

Where's My Pot of Gold?

We've had 8 days of measurable rain. Today was OK until the late afternoon; then the bottom fell out again. But the reward came while we were on our way to supper...a double rainbow! My camera was at home, unfortunately, but I had Nicky take a couple of pictures on my cell phone. This was the best of the lot:

This is one of those cases where you had to be there. It was absolutely beautiful, and when the second one shone through, we were just stunned.

I'm never going anywhere without my camera again!

We're Gonna Rock Down To...

The kids and I saw this sign last week on PA-22 as we drove to Penn State University for a tour:



I giggled and giggled...flashback to the 80s!!!!!

And no, I wasn't driving...JJ was! Promise!

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

Ugh...more rain, and no end in sight. Here's a picture I took last week when we toured Penn State University:

So beautiful!

Driving Me Crazy

Look out...there's a new driver on Maryland highways!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It was a very rainy and gloomy Sunday. Where's last week's sunshine??? Wait....

Ah...Muffin enjoying last week's heat and sunshine. She was loving it!

Dance Fever

Tonight was Nicky's 8th grade dance at school. The theme was Bright Lights, Big City and it was decorated like Central Park in New York. It was unbelievable! It didn't even look like school. I helped with the pictures--of course! I had a great time, but Nicky, not so much. Since he's not too social, he sat down a lot and stood around a lot, but didn't talk much and didn't dance at all. He did look pretty spiffy!



He sure does clean up good!