Deodorizer Trees

I am a passenger in a Van Pool and on the first day of the year, one of the passengers hung a new deodorizer down on the driver's seat.

Seriously, I am not offended by the odors of the other passengers, I have no idea what her problem is, but it kind of makes me sad, because our drivers have to put up with so much. Bad traffic, the time we leave in the morning and the time we head out in the evening. Trying to make 8 other people happy. It is a hard job.

I can't drive the van, but I would have hurt feelings, if her action was caused by me. (Hopefully is is not me). :-)

The kids go back to school this week, so I am sure life in the van will get worse, instead of better and I am sure a deodorizer is not going to fix that.

Whitestone Bridge

My Water Post For Today.

As Nancy Santos (the person who shot the video that I took this screen capture from) said, right place, right time.

She was so correct. What a stunning photo of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, one of the two bridges that connect Queens (Long Island) to the Bronx and the Upstate area.

I have never been on this bridge, for some reason, we Long Islanders prefer the Throgs Neck Bridge, but it is just as beautiful.

The water is, too.

I hope you enjoy.

Dinner With My Magic Son

We haven't been together since the end of November and so my Magic Son owed me quite a bit of money...note that it was nice to see that money. :-)

We knew that he was going to be back at work by the end of January, so we wanted to get together.

When I heard that his sister had returned to Vietnam, I knew he might be free. I won that bet.

Dinner at the usual place and lots of catch up to do with him.

As I showed off on Monday, he and his family traveled to Big Sur and spent some time at Limekiln State Park.

He really loved being by the water and by the redwoods. A son after my own heart.

He also has plans to visit Las Vegas, SLC Utah and then spend a month in Cleveland, Ohio.

I hope the two "Sons" manage to meet up, while he is there. It's only 182 miles away.

A Lime Scooter

A scooter turned up parked on the sidewalk in front of Disney Corporate, at the corner of Alameda and Buena Vista.

It is a Lime Scooter and it has been approved for use in our area of Burbank, I guess.

I did find THIS article about having them expand into the Valley.

I personally found this one offensive and then on Friday there were 2 parked on Alameda (the street I walk on) and I had to dodge them. I felt for the parents with strollers or the handicapped people trying to "walk" on the sidewalk. It was much harder.

You definitely feel that there is no care by the riders, to make sure the scooters are docked in a safe area.

I wonder if this is a growing problem. If it is, I am not pleased.

My Curly Tailed Cat

This was Makenna a week ago.

Seriously, look at her curly tail!

This is what she does, when it is absolutely right about time for her meal.

No fooling around, no sleeping on the ottoman, just staring at us, wanting her food.

She also meows about once a minute, just to make sure we are not ignoring her.

She always makes me so happy.

Donald Fagen Turns 71 Today

Donald Fagen turns 71 years old today.

I always felt extremely lucky to land between in his birthday and his partner, Walter Becker's birthday in February.

That yin and yang thing is no more, with the loss of Walter Becker, a year ago September.

No matter what, Donald's life and Steely Dan's goes on and yes, I am a fan that is so happy to hear that.

I have no idea what plans he has for this year (minus a few dates in Europe in February), but if he is going out touring in America, chances are I will check it out.

Happy Birthday Donald...and many more.

Pork Roast With Apple Mustard Glaze

We had a pork roast in our freezer.

I didn't know what to do with it, so I went looking for a recipe and I found THIS one from Sandra Lee and The Food Network.

Minus making the glaze, it was super easy and the only thing that tied me to the kitchen, was the basting every 15 minutes.

It was juicy, flavorful and went well with the sweet potatoes that I didn't make for the holidays (so they were taking up space in the fridge).

The roast was super cheap (the reason I bought it), the sweet potatoes were free, as were the green beans I did not make last week. The mustard was a gift we got and the only new expense was the apple juice.

It ended up being an inexpensive dinner with lots of leftovers.

You might want to try it sometime.

Michigan Update Jan 6th

First week back at work for my Son and he said things were getting busy at work.

No idea what that means, but we did discuss the new tailgate on the GMC Sierra. I saw a video on it, via Twitter and it was the first time I had encountered a six function tailgate. If you want to see what I am talking about, you can check it out, HERE.

He said that it had been around for about a year, but maybe on his radar, but definitely not on mine.

Otherwise, no snow there, still. Been a weird winter all around, since I know for a fact that Oswego has no snow right now.

His housemates are getting back into routine, though one of them was sick on Friday. It's that time of the year.

Otherwise, all is going well.

Limekiln State Park (Big Sur)

My Water Post For Today.

My Magic Son and his family spent several days up on the Big Sur area, by Limekiln State Park.

No idea who took the photo, but the water by Big Sur is always outstanding and so worth a look.

Enjoy that which you can only see (quite this way) in California

(Note: I am not putting down the beauty of Oregon or Washington at all).

Three Kings Day Has Finally Arrived!

The big day has come. The Three Kings have finally arrived, to visit the baby Jesus.

My Church had them so far away, when I took this photo, that I could not get them both in the same frame.

On my end, I hope I will remember to take out the other part of our 3 Kings Bread. If you remember, it is currently in the freezer.

This brings to an end, the 2018 Holiday Season.

On with 2019. May it be a good year for all.

We Got A New Faucet For Our Sink

I have been cooking in my kitchen for the past 2 weeks and the thing that was making it much more difficult, was the fact that our faucet was moving around.

It was bad enough that the top of it had broken off, so it was ugly, but now it was almost impossible to use and I kept thinking it was going to break apart and start squirting water.

Not the most pleasant way to end a year and start a new year.

On one of the days off, I dragged my Husband to Lowe's and we chose a faucet that we liked and was not overly expensive.

It would have cost of $129 to have a professional install it, since my Husband is no longer capable of fixing things like this.

Thankfully, our Aquafit Teacher's Husband does handy work jobs and he did it for a very reasonable price.

So we have a working faucet, once again.

I especially like the fact that I can fill and clean my large pots now. It was always a challenge doing that, with our old one.

Happy New Year and Happy Newer Sink.

My Martha Stewart "Coming Home" Poncho

Back in 2005, Martha Stewart got out of jail and someone knit her a lovely grey poncho, to go home in.

As were many other people, I was instantly in love with it and actually went to the effort to make it.

The thing is, I rarely have a situation that gives me a chance to wear it, so it just sits in my closet.

The other day, at Church, I saw a person wearing a poncho and I decided that I would go to the effort of finding mine.

It was right where I had hung it 13 years ago and it is in fine condition...so I wore it to Costco.

Now that we are going on a cruise, maybe I will bring it along for the ride.

We shall see.

Goodbye Old Christmas Tree...Sob

It lived with us for something like 30 years.

My Child adored it and so did my cats.

Unfortunately, it came to the point in our lives that it was shedding all over the place, the branches were slowly breaking and trying to keep it going, when it weighed so much and we both had a very difficult time getting it down from the upper garage, was all just too much.

We did buy the new one, which I showed off, HERE, but this was the final moments that we had the old tree.

It was gone by the time I got home on Wednesday evening.

Thank you for everything you brought this family over the years. We cherished you and loved you and we will never forget you.

Life goes on.

You Call This New Year's Eve?

So there we are, watching the New Year come to New York City.

Wondering how people can possibly stand out in the rain for hours on end, without bathrooms!

The big moment arrives and they are counting those last seconds down to the new year.

When the clock strikes 12, all you can see is smoke?

Really?

I couldn't believe it.

Talk about a major fail.

A new dawn, a new day and here's what went on at the end of the Rose Parade, this year.

Figures that the only float I wanted to see, would have a fire, break down, the tow truck break down and then have the show end. You could tell on the repeat air that they had to take it into editing, for post production, because KTLA runs the show all day long.

A pretty sad start to the New Year, all around, or as my Husband says...Live Television.

Happy New Year And A Post On Braids

Happy New Year! May 2019 treat you well.

I have seen many people, both old and young, adding a braid to their hair.

I spent the majority of my 40's wearing a braid on either side of my long hair.

The last time I did this was 11 years ago, when I met our friend's first Grandchild.

You can see it in the photo.

Single braids kind of went out of style, but seems to be coming back.

As an example, here is our friend's youngest Grandchild, sporting a wonderful braid.

It brought back many memories to me.

Too bad the way my hairdresser cuts my hair now days, does not work well with a braid.

My hair is layered and much thinner than it used to be.

Oh well...