weekend rays of sunlight!

 I love this time of day/year.

These are photos from the house/yard...

Happy Weekend!

Feast of the Epiphany

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany...the day we commemorate the journey of the Magi following the Star, to the place of the Christ child. I think it a beautiful close to Christmas. The day our Lord receives His gifts.

We leave our tree up until after the Epiphany, so tonight, we're enjoying our Christmas tree one last night. I boxed up several decorations yesterday and they're waiting to be put away for the year. But the tree...tonight we sit in its glow and appreciate the beauty of the lights and of the season.

And tomorrow, I'll finish clearing the table of our snowmen, puppies, penguins, candles, poinsettias the myriad of decorations that went up so fast but seem to take so long to put away!

Until next year,

Merry Christmas!

I took this photo this past weekend, while sitting on the patio. The sky was a perfect blue, so calming and soothing. This is the best time of the year in Florida, the perfect weather and vibrant spring colors. In a few short months, the humidity will be like a wet blanket, suffocating and wreaking havoc on my hair. And isn't that what's important, the texture of my hair? I thought so!

driving along in my automobile.

What the motivation was to take my camera along to pick the dog up from the groomer's, I'm not certain.

Perhaps it was to document blatant traffic infringements...like this driver...

 ...who ran the red light and pulled out right in front of me. Grrrrrr....

Without hesitation, I took a photo of her dastardly deed. If you recognize this driver, please report this tag number to the Division of Moron-driving Vehicles.

I was so irritated.

Or maybe I took my camera along that I could share with you the pretty promise of Spring. The grass is to turning green and the foliage is preparing to present multitudes of brilliant color.

My Yankee family and friends might consider me to be rubbing their poor, cold noses into our beautiful weather, as they struggle to escape the freezing temperatures and snow of this Winter.

Yet I remind Yankee-dwellers of their beautiful Fall weather and colors, which we in Florida totally lack.

Do you really think that I would be so petty as to taunt my friends with photos of beautiful blue Southern skies?!

Yup... you'd be totally correct in that assumption.

Some days, I feel so totally wicked!

whiney autumn lament.

Hello.

It's still hotter'n heck, hades, h-e-double hockey sticks here in Florida.

Tell me, what does fresh, cool air feel like?

I knew it once, a very long time ago.

Tucked in my bed as the evening settled in, curtains dancing upon the cool autumn air.

...and the breeze would lightly kiss my cheek.

The tree frogs and crickets sang their orchestrated lullaby as a girl drifted off to sleep.

Now all I have are hot flashes in the middle of the night, a damp t-shirt and lizards staring at me through the window. 

...the dog sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed, dreaming and snoring like an old, craggy sea captain.  Nice.

I miss the dancing curtains and the songs of the night critters.

...Autumn in Florida just isn't the same!

here's your sign!

To our Northern friends who are bundled up, enduring the frigid temperatures and endless snow: here are your signs of spring. We're feeding them here in the South, fueling them for their long flight home. Soon, they'll be hopping around in your backyard, eating and making merry.

The banquet was well-attended Saturday morning. The Robins gathered and had a reunion of sorts, feasting on the bugs-o-plenty in grasses of the neighborhood. The birds were beautiful and plump, milling about, enjoying the plentiful grub.

It was important that I send along this affirmation of spring to you...growing up in NY, it was joyful spotting the first Robins of the season. It meant that winter would soon be over and new life would soon be evident in the trees. Warm weather would soon be arriving, whereupon we'd shed our coats, sweaters and mittens, replacing them with t-shirts and shorts.

Please know this: if you're cold and tired of the endless winter...spring is winging its way to you.

We hope they arrive to you as happy as they left us...and I hope they make you as happy as they made us.

silent Monday.

Photos courtesy of The Olde Green Cupboard.

A fabulous store, you really must check it out.

me, doing Jason's chores. The nerve!

You may be wondering why I have a post-it note taped to my front door, reminding me to "turn off the water." Come, I'll show you.

The pool's water level is low and it's making a horrible sucking noise. Yes, you heard me. Jason isn't here to take care of this...he had an out-of-town meeting, so I'm in charge here! And that covers pool-duty! See how low the water is from the top of the pool? Not good. Let's fill 'er up, where's the water hose? C'mon...

Oh, look! Jason, being the horticulturist he is, remembered to cover the plants prior to the hit of the big freeze. Look at the pretty roses...if I had touched them, you'd be looking at a potted stick. Don't worry, I covered the little blooms back up...I hope I didn't make contact with them!

And there's our sweet B.B. She does not like the pool, so she's off to sun herself in the dirt near the fence. She's going to want a cookie when she comes in, but I'm not going to give her one. She's spoiled. And really cute!

What were we doing...? Oh, right! The hose. Follow me!

Here we go! The hose...what's this junk on the end of it? Jason has some kind of super-duper valve thingy on the end of it. I hope I can figure out how to turn it on...

Success! Let's go and fill up the pool! Do you see how hard this job is, why it's up to Jason to keep track of the pool when he gets home from working all day? I'm just too busy sewing, or writing on my blog, or driving around. Gee-whiz, this is manly work!

And just drop the hose in the pool. Yup, that's it. Not that anyone's going to be in the pool anytime soon...

Here's some green vegetation, for my Northern-dwelling family and friends.

Here's some more green vegetation, growing on the steps. That would be lichen. Aha, I remember some stuff from high school biology! The lichen will be cleaned off during Spring yard work weekend. Some leaves...this is the South's Fall! We'll be raking up a bunch of these in a few weeks.

Thanks for helping me fill the pool. Hence, the note on the door (and hallway lamp). I sure would hate forgetting to turn that hose off and the pool overflow. Yikes! It could have almost happened, once...

chaos!

Help. Me. I'm snowed under! Buried. Digging my way out! Or rather, sewing my way out.

The end is in sight. I'm hoping to be all caught up by the end of today. Bwah-ha-ha, it'll never happen!

Christmas shopping still needs to happen, baking, parties to attend, church obligations.

But I'm not too worried about it...it'll all get done. It always does.

Breathe, Patti...breathe!

tale of snow.

Quite often, I need a reminder that some towns and cities in the beautiful and bountiful USA might, at this moment, have some of these happy fellas standing around.

Which reminds me of my childhood on Grand Island, NY. My brothers (with a little help from me) would spend hours building big beautiful snowmen, monuments of our youthful enthusiasm and tolerance to freezing temperatures; red, frozen noses and red-tipped ears. We would spend hours, or so it seemed, building the biggest, baddest snowman on the street.

One particular snowman comes to mind...he was a beauty! We were quite proud of the gentleman. A snowman standing in one's yard was a status symbol, something to be admired and coveted by all who passed by. After rolling three boulder-sized snowballs for his body and with a few snowball fights between siblings, we trudged into the house, happy and contented children. We had, after all, erected the perfect snowman. Excited about our masterpiece standing dutifully in the front yard, we grudgingly went inside to defrost our ears, noses (one nose per child) and hands.

The following morning was Sunday, which meant getting ready for mass. Four kids and two parents and one guest squeezed into the sedan heading for church. That's when we discovered that overnight, our snowman had morphed into a......snowwoman. You know what that means...in the cover of darkness, to our delight, "someone" (Bob and Jimmy Brown...yes, quite certain it was they) had augmented our masterpiece. Complete with stones strategically placed on the voluptuous white bosoms of our snowman/woman.

Boy, did our visiting southern-grandmother get a kick out of that!

Memories...

turkey nonsense.

It's time to get your turkey together!

Defrost that bird!

happy days!

Perhaps it's safe to feel like Fall is finally here in Florida. The past few days have been glorious, temperatures in the low to mid seventies, beautiful breezes, lovely sunshine and absolutely no humidity. We've been sleeping with our windows open, relishing the crisp night air. Walking outside is joyful, no instantaneous sweat pouring down one's back...just pretty, sunshiney weather.

Here's to hoping that the hot, humid days are behind us and cooler days are waiting to greet us. Oh, I know that some hot days are certain to rear their ugly heads and I'll be sure to complain and rail against them.

But for now, I am basking in the cooler, refreshing breezes and looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Where do you live and what's your weather like?

throw-back to Fall.

Imagine our complete and utter joy awakening to a beautiful, cool 57-degrees! We were all so invigorated, we did our happy Snoopy dance! Living in Florida can be season-challenging when you're from Buffalo. Southern holidays often feel off-kilter, leaving me yearning for the seasons of the North.

The first Christmas living in Florida was 90-degrees! Imagine yard decorations and Christmas lights on lush green yards, with revelers wearing shorts and flip-flops...it's like living in the Twilight Zone.

And here it is October, with no change in the leaves. No brilliant golds, vibrant yellows, deep burgundies. I miss the crunch of the leaves under my feet, the cool brisk air, the sweaters and sensible, season-appropriate shoes.

But this morning, it was 57-degrees! By this afternoon, it will be in the mid to upper 80's, with no humidity. That translates to perfect hair and minimal sweating. I can live with that.

If you're reading this and living north of the Mason Dixie Line, I am with you in spirit and dreaming of all the lovely Fall Festivals, fields with pumpkins on the vine and fresh, crisp apples overflowing in bushel baskets at the market. Indian corn on crisp husks, scarecrows, bales of hay and intricate mazes cut in the cornfields.

If you're reading this and live in the South, the hospitality here is awesome and please, don't kick me out yet. The Springs here are divine...

tweet!

I thought I might change things up a bit, shake up my sewing repertoire. Since Twitter has made such a big splash, I thought perhaps a bird design was in order. In the Great Closet Caper (I told you all how I was over it and wouldn't bring it up anymore...I guess I lied) I found a bunch of jeans that MacGyver had ruined in his mechanical "pursuits." Rather than throw all of that denim lusciousness away, an old rusty bell went off in my head and I decided to keep and "repurpose" (new, hip term for "reuse") the old pants. Way, way back in my high school art class, I discovered I had a knack for applique (waaaaay before it became so popular). Being that all the birds I'm seeing on blogs are cute and fat, I made this fat bird from leftover fabric scraps. I think I'll embroider "twitter" or "tweet" on the denim. Oh, this is going to be a purse. I forgot to mention that. One side denim, the other, pieced fabrics. Maybe I'll stick a heart on the other side of that denim seam...

I'm open to any suggestions. My creativity has been ebbing and being that you're all smart folks, I could use your help...SOS!

FREE-ky Friday!

Hello, Summer!

I am giving away this supremely cute hot-pink tote cooler, just in time for summer. This cooler is not only handy, but looks stunning sitting by the pool. It fits about 6 soda ("pop" up North) cans, or several bottles of water...yes, you know you can substitute beer for soda and wine coolers for water! I made and added the flower pin, to give the tote cooler a kick and have something handmade on it. The pin is removable, stick it on your hat, or bikini. Or use it as a pastey (pastie?)...ha, ha, ha.

The inside of the cooler has that silver stuff, used in lunch bags all over the world. I call it insulation, therma something-or-other...I'm not a technical gal.

I'm depressed...I have only 8 followers. I know, it's not the quantity of friends one has, it's the quality of the friendship. And I agree with that, 'cause the followers I have are SPECTACULAR! But I'm looking pitiful, like a wallflower at the dance. So I'm unabashedly begging for friends...don't judge me! Here's what you'll need to do:

~Become a follower for a chance at the tote.

~If you grab my button over there on the side bar (Share Me) and paste/link it to your blog, there's a second chance. **I am desperately trying to figure out how to get the HTML code in the sidebar...would love you forever if you could help me...

~If you blog about my giveaway, there's a third chance.

~If you're an original follower, prior to today, I'll throw in an extra chance for you.

~And if you're brand spanking new to blogging and can't do any of the above, leave a comment and you'll still get a chance at Pinkie up there. Afterall, one chance is really all you need (that's what I tell myself as I'm buying one Lotto ticket.)!

You must leave a comment telling me which of the above you're doing, so that I can check on you, like a mother checking her daughter's dusting...that's another story. I'll use my trusty friend, Random Generator to select one lucky follower. Confused? Yeah, me too!

I'll run this giveaway through Thursday, May 7th and announce the winner next weekend. You know, this could end very badly for me. What if only two people show up? I mean, I'll cherish them, but I may end up in therapy. This could be The Miss America Pageant episode all over again. Where I answer the question incorrectly and end up on the Today show, talking about my failed contest and my rumored breast implants, or lack thereof.

Good luck, friends!