Hurricane Sandy

I was just finishing cooking dinner on Monday evening when the lights went out. Since our house is all electric, we not only had no lights but no heat either and it was getting colder. We found and lit candles and then we sat down to eat dinner. The electric company (PECO) could only tell us that they were aware of the outage and would get it fixed as quickly as possible. It would be the last hot meal we had in six days because the few restaurants that were open, had very long lines and were quickly running out of food.

Within a few hours, the winds were blowing more than 50 mph and the rain was coming down sideways. The bench we have sitting outside the front door was picked up and flew within inches of my brand new car. Earlier we had put away the trash cans or they would have been blown away to heaven knows where--that's how hard the wind was blowing.

Fortunately, we do have a propane heater that doesn't require electricity to run it. As long as we stayed in the room with the heater, we were at least warm. The first night was probably the easiest to get through. At that time, we still had hope that power would come back on quickly.

Tuesday, every house on our street got power back with the exception of our house and the house directly across the street from us. We both built our houses at the same time and are connected to a different power line than the rest of the street. Our neighbor directly next door kindly allowed us to plug into an outlet on his deck to run our refrigerator. Bless him because it saved a whole lot of perishables.

By that tine, I was dying for a cup of tea so I walked over to the nearest supermarket because they have a Starbucks in the store, and the McDonald's is right across the street. Many others had the same idea because you couldn't get near McDonalds and the Starbucks had a line almost completely around the block! No tea for me that day.

Gradually, over the next couple of days, neighborhoods started to get their power back. We didn't. No one was worried about the two houses left on our street that were powerless. Friday evening our street came abuzz with utility trucks from Meade Co. of Indianapolis, Indiana. I felt like the calvary was coming to rescue us. We were able to tell them we saw flashes of light in the sky and they came from the development next to us, and up the street. Meade went to that area and discovered there were two huge pine trees laying across the wires. They had to call a tree surgeon to come and cut down the trees. My heart dropped when the Meade trucks drove away.

We went to bed on Friday evening sure that it would be a couple of more days before our power returned. New transformers had to be brought from another area to replace the ones the trees burned out. Saturday was a very long day for me. Towards evening, my sweet husband unplugged the refrigerator so I could plug in my electric kettle to make a pot of tea. When the water started to boil, I heard this beep, looked up and saw the phone was lit. Power had returned!!!!

I no longer had to take cold showers (and by that time, the water was really cold!) and we could have a hot dinner. I could LSO turn on the electric blanket and sleep peacefully. But first, we both took a very long, hot shower and washed our hair. How wonderful that felt!

All I can say is thank God for the wonderful Meade people and the persistence they showed in fixing our power outage. Many of our neighbors will be saying special prayers for these gentlemen at Sunday morning mass. The people in my area only suffered power outages and little damage to their homes. Prayers must go to the people in New York City, and Staten Island who are surely suffering more than we an imagine. Those at the New Jersey shore are also in need of prayers for they lost their homes and everything in them.

Wednesday, we are expecting a N'easter storm. Hopefully, the winds won't be as strong and the rains not quite as fierce.

Traveling Sock

I belong to a social network called Ravelry. It is a place for knitters and crocheters to meet and discuss what they are creating, ask questions, provide help to beginners, or just have conversations.

In one of my groups (the Knitters Brewing Company forum) we are doing a Traveling Sock round robin. This consists of 8 members who knit a bit on each others socks. We start out by knitting our own toes (the socks are knit toe up instead of cuff down,) send them off to the next person on the list who adds two inches in a pattern and color of their choice. That person then sends her finished work off to the next person and so on. By the time all 8 people knit on the socks they are returned to the owner finished.

I can't wait to see my finished socks when they are returned to me.

Here are the first two I've added on to:

My new toy

IMG_0001, a photo by lizziejohns on Flickr.

My new toy.

If you haven't heard from me in the past few days, it's because I've been busy with my new computer. Never realized how difficult it was to change from a PC to a iMac. I thought I was so computer literate, but this brought me my comeuppance!

I've got most things figured out, but my printer will only work with a USB cord and not wireless. Still have to work on that, but overall things are starting to go more smoothly.

Well, iMac has proven me wrong again. I can't figure how to upload a photo from the iPhoto library to my blog. Anyone out there have a Mac and a blog? Maybe you can help me.

I somehow uploaded via Flickr but I'm not sure how!

Hopefully, I'll shortly be back reading blogs again.

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- Finale

Today is the last day of the 2012 Scavenger Hunt. I had so much fun doing this Hunt that I can't wait until next year's to do it again! I found all 21 items on the list. I can't say any of them were particularly outstanding, but some were more difficult to find than others. I'd have to say Someone Playing with a Ball was my hardest and almost the last one I found. The last one was a photo of me standing beside something that signifies my country. I dreaded having my photo taken and that's why it's last.

Here's a collage of all my photo layouts that I put in an 8x8 album. The collage doesn't show them in proper order but the album goes from 1 to 21.

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- #21 A Photo of Me Next to Something that Symbolizes our Nation

I'm really sorry to see the 2012 Scavenger Hunt end for me today. I've now found all the clues, posted all the photos, and the layouts I made for the 8x8 album. What am I going to do until next year's Hunt, I ask myself? Guess I'll just have to live with the anticipation!

Here is the photo of me standing next to something that symbolizes our nation. What could symbolize our nation more than its flag? I did have plans to travel to Philadelphia and take photos of me standing beside the Liberty Bell, or perhaps visit Betsy Ross's house where the original flag was sewn together by her. These plans never materialized so the photo of me with the flag was taken in my living room. I did wash my hair but forgot to put on makeup because my husband was hurrying me. He has some important he wants to do and I held him up by primping. Men have no patience.

So here I am, in all my glory, simply holding my American flag.

African Violets

A few months back, we went to a flea market held by our local fire company. I tend to stop and talk with people (I always hated when my mother did this, and here I am doing it!) I stopped at this one table because I was curious about two light stands that were on a gentlemen's table. He explained that they used to grow African Violets as a hobby, and the lights were specifically designed for this type of plant. We talked for a while about how I have never been able to get an African Violet plant to re-bloom after receiving them for gifts. He finally talked me into buying one of the plant stands for $5.00. He originally asked $10.00 but wanted to prove to me that even I could get them to bloom.

So, the next day I went to the nursery and bought an African Violet plant. Now I regret not buying both of the light stands because he was right and here's my photo to prove it. Wish I knew how to get in touch with him, but I don't think he was local.

Nuts to You Squirrel

The other day, my husband got the tractor out to cut the grass. He backed it out of the shed but when he to put it into drive gear, it would budge. He tried everything he could think of short of taking the battery out--which he finally did. Underneath the battery he went to the spot where the gears would engage and found a black walnut. We have dozens of squirrels bringing their black walnut treats from the house down the street that has several black walnuts trees. Why they come to our deck to eat them is still a mystery.

We are assuming they got into the shed and hid the black walnuts for food in the winter. We found a pile of them in the corner of the shed but probably one of them somehow got into the tractor.

Here's the evidence...look within the white circle.

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- $14 A Person Playing with a Ball

I think I'm going to make it to the end of the Scavenger Hunt! I only have one more clue and that one will be easy--it's #21 a photo of me standing next to something that symbolizes our nation. I just have to wash my hair and put on a bit of makeup so I don't scare you all!

Here's my photos and layout of a person playing with a ball. It was my husband who finally came to my rescue and said, "why don't we go over to the sports club and see if anyone is on the outdoor tennis courts?" I belong to this sports club and go three times a week. You'd think I would have remembered they have outdoor tennis courts. I was always checking on the indoor courts, and since the weather is nice most people play outside until it's too cold. No wonder I could never find anyone indoors!

The photos aren't that great because of all the blue tarps around the courts to prevent the balls from getting stuck in the fence, and probably privacy for those who play like I do.

School Photos

I enjoyed school, I really did. One of the events I always looked forward to was having our yearly photos taken. Since this is an important moment in a child's life, and maybe the only photo of them taken during that year, you would think the photographer might tell the students when they weren't look quite right. Maybe the hair is a little messy, or a ribbon is not on straight. This never happens, though, as evidenced by the photo taken of me when I was about six or seven. When I brought the proofs home, my mother looked at the photographs, and then looked up at me crying. She calmly said, "Perhaps we should only get the minimum this year." You have to love a mother who would purchase the photos even when they are so bad.

Learn Something New Every Day

Although I still have two clues to hunt down for the 2012 Scavenger Hunt, I am starting Shimelle's class Learn Something New Every Day (LSND) It will run for the entire month of September and is a lot of fun to do. No pressure with this class because I'll be using the 4x6 album set that Shimelle has kindly provided.

All I have to do is record something I learned the previous day. So my first posting for LSND will be tomorrow. I haven't learned anything today--it's too early in the day!

For the Scavenger Hunt I have to find someone playing with a ball, and a photo of me with something that symbolizes our nation. I had intended to travel to downtown Philadelphia and have a photo taken of me in front of the Liberty Bell. I haven't been able to schedule that so I may just take the easy way out and hold a flag for the picture taking. We'll see.

Anyway, I hope you all stick with me throughout Shimelle's LSND class to see my postings.

2012 Scavenger Hunt--#7 and #4

What luck! We were traveling on a road we hadn't used before and came upon a roadside stand! My husband quickly pulled to the side of the road and I snapped this photo.

Then, while at a flea market, I found this man strumming his mandolin and caught him on the down stroke. He wanted to know why I took his photo so I spent about ten minutes explaining it to him and showing him my list of completed clues. He was flattered to know that he would soon be on the internet for all to see. Such a sweet man. Then, he asked if I wanted to buy a musical instrument! I explained to him that I had a dead ear as far as music was concerned.

I haven't had time to make my layouts of these photos yet, but I'll post them when finished. See below for the layouts.

Pass the Book: Year Two

I thoroughly enjoyed reading and creating photographic trading cards from the book Trading Card Treasures. It is now available to be passed on to another lucky recipient. If interested in having this book passed on to you, please go to Pass the Book: Year Two where all the details (and other books) can be found. Please let me know in the comments section of this blog and I'll choose a name on Monday, August 27, 2012, then pass the book on to that person.

I recently took a series of wonderful photographs on an old farmstead. This book inspired me to use one of those photographs to create this simple series of four photographic trading cards titled: Watering Cans on Barn.

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- #17 A Church

I suppose I could have taken photos of my parish church, but I was looking for something special. As I said before, you never know exactly what is in your own area until you go looking for it. I spoke with a friend of mine about the hunt and the need for a photo of a church. She suggested that I go to Doylestown and take a photo at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestocowa (pronounced Chest-a-hova.) She was correct--this is a magnificent church.

I also found a gorgeous outdoor staircase, but alas I already took photos of another one and did the layout. However, I thought I would show you this staircase because I would hate to have to climb it!

My digital layout is at the bottom.

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- #1 A Pier

I thought I would never get a photo of a pier. The closest to us would be the Delaware River and that's not exactly close and would take a special trip.

To my surprise, while on my morning walk at Peace Valley Park, I came across a pier! I don't usually walk here at the park because it can be a lonely place to walk but one gets tired of walking the same route every day. Fortunately, this morning, there were quite a few retired women walking and I joined in with them.

When I spotted the pier, I ran back to my car and grabbed the camera. It's not a pretty pier, in fact, it is pretty much falling down but it's a pier and I can cross one more item off the list.

Here's a couple of view of the pier along with my digital layout.

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- #10 A Horse

I found my horse in a most unexpected place. While attending Wilson and Nancy's wedding, held in a vineyard, I found there also were several animals on the estate--including horses. I suppose if one stops looking for something, it simply turns up.

The children climbing all over that very patient horse are Wilson's grandchildren. It looks to me like the horse didn't even know they were there! I thought it only right to also photograph the playmate--a rather scruffy looking horse but also very gentle.

At the very bottom is the digi layout I made of the horses.

2012 Scavenger Hunt--#15 Someone Dancing

Continuing on...taking full advantage of Wilson and Nancy's wedding event, I have #15 Someone Dancing! First I have them eating then they danced.

They weren't the only ones eating...there was so much food we all had to loosen our belts and buttons. And, there was plentiful wine available, too. Makes sense since it was held at a vineyard!

Nothing like a wedding to make you feel good. In fact, we had our wedding 52 years ago today. Yep, it's our anniversary. Right below is a photo of us at our wedding. My goodness we were young!

Now on to the dancing...

2012 Scavenger Hunt -- #16 A Bride

We witnessed such happiness today when Wilson and Nancy married.  Wilson had been a widower for two years.  He and Nancy had worked together for 20 years but never in their wildest dreams did they ever think they would fall in love, but they did.  As I told them…Cupid works in mysterious ways.

The wedding was in a beautiful vineyard setting.  The vineyard is owned by Nancy’s nephew and he had a special bottle of wine created just for them.  Everyone at the wedding was given a small bottle to take home and celebrate the happy event.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of photos I took at the wedding.  I intend to make them up a special wedding album so I needed lots of photos.

2012 Scavenger Hunt Linkup

I missed out on the Scavenger Hunt last year so was really looking forward to doing it this year. We are attending a wedding this evening where I hope to get some more hints accomplished. I expect to find a bride, people dancing, and maybe even some other hints on the way to the wedding.

I mostly do digital scrapping (except for cards) so I am putting all my Scavenger Hunt layouts into an 8x8 album. Here is what I have accomplished so far...