Coming and Goings of the Sun....

This week, Kathy at You'll Shoot Your Eye Out, Song-ography's challenge, is from the Beatles hit "Here Comes the Sun".  Well ofcourse, me being in perfect tune (no pun intended) didn't even check on the challenge until late yesterday afternoon right before I caught the train to Chicago to meet-up with Carol from Buttercup Counts Her Blessings.  Sun?  Hmmm....I found more setting than rising...so it's going to be more Here Goes the Sun, instead of Here Comes the Sun.

Waiting on the train this woman caught my eye.  She was sitting on the bench close to me, and me trying to be totally discreet, (now I ask you, how in the heck can you be discreet when you are sitting on the next bench and you have your big girl camera, with a rather large lens attached) waited until the right moment to snap her photo.  She did not look like the kind of person that was wanting to have her photo snapped, as many are, and to me she looked as tho alot of sunshine had gone out of her life, however she did still manage to put a flower in her hair, perhaps still seeking that ray of sunshine.

After the train ride into Chicago, a quick cab ride to Michigan Ave. and while walking toward "The Bean" which was our designated spot for out meet-up I thought the clouds & sun reflected in The Bean were perfect.  That is the great thing about "The Bean" it is so reflective and makes the world around it seem almost magical.

Sure enough, almost as soon as I rounded to the west side a woman approached me and asked if I was Deanna.  This was not the Carol, aka Buttercup that I recognized from her blog, but her friend C. Carol & C have been good friends since their first week of college a few years back....and no, we are not discussing how many years back.  Then, here comes Buttercup, arms outstretched ready to hug. Oh what fun, another blogger buddy come to life.  What an absolute delight.

We immediately decided to get something to eat, (that's what we women do, isn't it, eat and talk) so we spent a splendid time dining on Kobe hamburgers with blu cheese, and grilled balsamic onions on a pretzel bun...yes, all 3 of us indulged on this...oh yum.  I washed mine down with a "summertime" sangria. And then we talked and talked and talked some more.  Carol & her friend C, are both avid readers, both love to travel, have very active and full lives, way fun getting to know them both.

We decided to walk over to the Pritzker Pavillion for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's free concert, but first a quick stop in the ladies room where I came across a group of young ladies dressed in what I first thought, were dance costumes.  I guess I am so tuned to costumes = dance because of my daughter's profession (dance studio owner/choreography extraordinaire) that I thought they were in town to perform.   Wrong, they were just having fun.  A year ago this very same weekend one of these couples was engaged and this group of friends dressed up, and rode a trolley as a fun way to celebrate the engagement.  A year later, a new marriage, new couples, another ride on the trolley and same fun costumes and friends.

A quick trip to the concert, beautiful music and many, many people enjoying the outdoors, seeing the true beauty of our city as the sun sets.

Did I mention that the temps never got out of the 60's today, and this is the end of July???....better this than 95 and ghastly humid tho.  But sitting without a jacket for any length of time brings on the chills so after listening to that beautiful music for awhile we decided it was hot beverage time.  So more talk and then it was time for me to grab a cab to catch the 10:40 PM to get home by midnight.  What an absolutely beautiful evening I spent with two beautiful ladies.  They put the sunshine back into my life after a tearful week cleaning out the office.  Time was too short.

This is not the best picture, we waited too late, the sun was long gone, but it is the only one I have of Carol and me.  Don't we look happy??

So any of you that blog, I encourage you, that if you EVER have the opportunity to meet a fellow blogger, do it.  It's just "over-the-moon elating".  And speaking of moon....this was what I found at midnight as I drove home.  The moon was just rising, not very high in the sky, and looked amazing. So instead of "here comes the sun....it is here comes the moon."

Have a fantabulicious week!!!

Until next time.....

Dear Whatta Week....

Dear Bunco Monday ....This has been a week....some good, some not so good.  Began the week with the Bunco gang coming here, we have 12 members so we each take a month hosting, works out really nice and I always like to have it in the summertime using the porch as one of the tables for Bunco. Everyone seems to enjoy their time on the back porch.  How is it that you think you have all the time in the world, and then suddenly time runs out and you're working your little ass (sorry) off to get ready in time for the girls to come.  You know how it is....you want everything to be just perfect.  I even thought I would have time to run to Kohl's to take advantage of a sale, ha, who was I trying to kid.  Anyway, ready or not they came and enjoyed the food and the drink.

Dear dang tired Tuesday.....I was so dang tired from Monday, I did absolutely nada on Tuesday. Napped on the porch, read a little, napped again, watched a little TV, napped again.  But woke up in the middle of the night with the chills...shivered till my teeth chattered.  Couldn't get warm (now remember this is summer), finally settled down, went back to sleep, but woke up chattering again.
Wh a aat??  Felt better the next morn, but wasn't perfect, felt really achy.

Dear shiver me timbers Wednesday....had plans to go to Geneva (a sweet little town northwest of here) to have lunch at "The Little Traveler" with 2 gal pals, but almost backed out due to still not feeling tippy top.  But decided to go anyway.  Lovely lunch, lovely stroll through the town.

Got home, started with the shivering again, and decided to take 3 ibuprofen and go to bed removing myself from contact with anyone.  Woke up late with 101.4 temp....took me forever to find the thermometer, hadn't used it in years, but just knew I had a fever.  When your eyeballs feel hot, then you know you have a fever.  Slept again, then woke up sometime in the night and was sweating....yeah fever broke.

Dear I feel so much better, Thursday....I feel better physically, but today was another day that has tested my "what I believe is my strong will".   I am cleaning out the office in preparation for re-painting and new office furniture.  And with cleaning out the office it means going through the piles of books, and paper, paper, paper in every drawer and cabinet.   My sweetie and I attended 4 years of schooling for him to become a Deacon in the Catholic Church, so all those papers were still in all those places waiting for me.  Seeing his handwriting, reading his words on those papers, brought on the tears.  Stacking all of  his books and gathering his albs and stoles (the dress that Priests and Deacons wear while performing sacraments) was a heavy burden.  I called one of the Deacons at our church who works in the Diaconate office and asked if he thought others could use my sweetie's things and without hesitation he came and picked them up, easing my burden. He said there were men who had just completed their schooling and will be be ordained in about 3 weeks that could use the albs and would be so grateful for my generosity.  Made my heart feel good.

And because it's Thursday, it's Band Concert night...that makes anyone feel better....the band concert where you can find just about anything....like dogs in lawn chairs while their owner sits on the ground, didn't quite understand that....meet Rose.  Note that both have the same color collars...hmmm.

And what a handsome man in his Scottish kilt ready to perform for the crowd this evening....

A typical band concert crowd....and we only have a few weeks left before it's all over.  Oh boo hoo, makes me sad to think that summer is winding down.  This is such a pleasurable way to spend Thursday evenings in the summertime.

Dear here we go again, Friday.... I am going to spend the day again going through "stuff" in the office. Years of accumulating books, papers, old bills, not my favorite thing to do, but it's gotta be done. And this morning the "fence" man comes to give me an estimate of a new fence.  Too much going on all at the same time....it's hard for this old lady to keep up.  I feel like my head is just barely above water.

But a fun Saturday is planned....I am meeting Carol Zwick from Buttercup Counts Her Blessings. Carol is from New York City, but is here in Chicago for a Blogger Conference.  We plan on meeting on Saturday evening in downtown Chicago....at the BEAN and spend some time together....another blogger buddy coming to life.  And in two weeks 6 of us from my collaborative blog, Focusing On Life will be here for our first gathering.  It's too bad all 10 of us were not able to gather, but life gets in the way of fun sometimes.

And speaking of Focusing On Life....pretty please hop on over there because today I am focusing on the color RED.

I thought this was an appropriate quote since I have been working more this week than I have worked all summer....well maybe not all summer but close.....

"No one has ever drowned in his own sweat."  ~  Ann Landers

Linking with...

Until next time.....

Musing From the Porch

I love my back screen porch...one of the best investments I ever did for this home.  And when I say I, I literally mean I.  When we first moved into this home, we had a concrete slab patio installed and used it for several years until I got the bug to have a screen porch.  At the time, our son was still living at home and he just happened to have a friend that was in the construction business who he thought might be willing to tackle the job.  Darren came out to the house, I told him what I wanted, he then gave me a quote of $4,000.  I grabbed that opportunity and now 22 years later, I am still enjoying that $4,000 investment.  Poor, Darren, I really think he spent more on the cost of material, not counting his labor, than $4,000.  I figure it was a good learning experience for him and taught him how to better estimate costs and his time for future projects.  I have had to re-do the entire inside....new wood trim and new screens & new doors, due to weather deterioation, but it was well worth any money's spent on this room that I so enjoy.

How exciting, we have a new little royal in our midst.  I wish Princess Kate, Prince William and the new little one (unnamed) all the best on this new journey.  I have read where they plan on bringing up this child as normal as possible without a arsenal of nannies...I wish them well.

And speaking of Princess Kate....I found her pregnancy and her choice of clothing so appropriate not only for a princess but for a pregnant lady in general.  Last night was Bunco night here and we postulated on today's maternity fashions...you can certainly tell by listening to our conversation that we are not of this young generation that literally bares all and wears their pregnancy fashion as tight as humanly possible.....we all sided with the lovely Kate and her choices of fashion throughout her pregnancy.

And then we have this....just sayin'  Darn you Demi Moore for starting this whole trend....I know I will probably get blasted for this, but it's this old lady's opinion...sometimes you just can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Well, it's done....the fence that is.  Last night with the girls coming they unfortunately decided to use the side gate, my mistake, I should have put out a warning sign....and with the opening and closing several times, the ole fence post just snapped and down she went.  Ofcourse this all started with my grand-dog, Mac who decided that hopping the fence was his favorite pastime while staying here, resulting in his leaps and bounds really doing a number on the fence.  So that project of replacing the fence that I wanted to postpone until next year ain't gonna happen....it's gonna happen this year, like it or not.  So now I am off to fence shop...somehow that doesn't have the same ring to it as shopping for new clothes or new furniture or new flowers or plants for the garden.  Think I will look at vinyl fencing....no maintenance has a nice ring to it.  They have come a long way since vinyl fencing first came on the scene and the no upkeep with re-painting would make me a happy lady.

And since today is Tuesday Muse over at Nancy's place....here is quote I found on Pinterest (I love that site...eye candy for sure!!!!) using a texture on a sweet image I captured at a fav garden center called "Deanna"...oh that's my name (!) what a coincidence...hee hee!!  I love those little flecks of gold throughout the texture.  Thanks again, Nancy!!

And I do remember the moment I finally had the courage to accept what had unfolded in my life...

And PS....I so apologize for not getting around to everyone lately who has so lovingly commented on my blog...I have been busier than a one armed paper hanger..only to get busier as the week progresses.

Linking with Nancy's Tuesday Muse....

Until next time.....

Up On A Roof....

Kathy's theme for this week's Song-ography is "Up on the Roof" sung by the legendary, James Taylor...so many ways you could interrupt this, and I would strongly recommend hoping over to her blog to see how other's came up with their interpretations...fun meme.  Join in.

So these would be my interpretations...starting from the top....can you imagine what you could see from this height...the rooftop to the world.  Captured this last night when not sleeping (so what else is new??) 

Then I thought of the story my Mom told me of when she was a little girl and the day she got her first pair of glasses....she scrambled up to the rooftop of the barn and was absolutely amazed at what she could see...it was like a miracle.

And then you wonder about the birds of the field and how they can fly to any rooftop and gaze at the miracles around them...do they appreciate what they can see from the rooftops?

And here is a "just because"....just because you haven't seen a mug from me in awhile, I thought this was especially perfect for a SUNDAY.

I hope you are rejoicing in today and singing from the rooftops....

Joining with Kathy at Song-ography and with Madge and with Stefanie

                                                                



Have a super-duper Sunday.....

Until next time....

Saturday Stuff

The weatherman promised cooler weather beginning today....but somehow the weather didn't get the word.  It was still 89 degrees with enough humidity to make me sweat, and you know how I dislike sweating.  So cooler weather not so much. Today is more like summertime Chicago weather, hot, humid and needing rain than what we have experienced so far (but honestly I totally enjoyed the cool summer).

I woke early this morning, about 6:30, one of the nicest times of the day.  The air is calm, the sun is just beginning to cast shadows on the backyard, the birds are already in fine singing form...not so sure if I will be singing this same song during the winter.  But right now, it is so pleasant sucking up that summertime morning, sittin' & sippin' my coffee on the back porch.

This morning I did grab my camera to capture some of that early morning bliss...

The young robin had just finished his morning bath....

Marti and I headed off for the French Market again about 9:00 AM, and again we were not disappointed in what we found...

First we found this cutie patootie....she is the 6th child of a family of 4 other girls and one boy.  What fun to be surrounded by all those sisters and a brother.

I bought peaches....oh yum

and some fresh flowers to go in my new orange vase.....

And speaking of orange....found this cutie patootie all dressed in orange...orange is the new black (maybe).

I bought fresh corn, and tomatoes, cilantro and onions and those delicious peaches and some coreopsis called Jewel Ruby Frost.  I think Ruby will look quite nice in my garden.

And adding a couple more pics of my family photo shoot in Michigan on Wednesday....

Hope your Saturday was filled with loveliness and Sunday will bring more of the same.

Until next time......

Some Random Friday Facts....

Another dreaded day under the belt....today I had to return to Lincolnshire to gather the rest of my sweetie's clothes, furniture and personal belongings.  My son-in-law Sam rented a small u-haul truck to carry the furniture back to his house in waiting for my grand-daughter, Brie to take it to school with her when she returns in August.  She has rented an apartment, and ofcourse furniture is needed, so the timing was perfect. When he moved into Lincolnshire 2 years ago, I purchased brand-new bedroom furniture, bed, mattress, night-stand, and large dresser with mirror, along with chairs & lamps.  He doesn't need any of that where he is now...it is all provided, so what better way to use it than to furnish Brie's new apartment.

After another tearful goodbye I headed out to the country to find the peace that it always brings me.  This I will definitely miss since moving him to town, I will no longer have these drives to look forward to...

The Queen Anne's Lace is blooming.....

As I drove, I turned down a road that I had driven on about a month or so ago, but that day it was foggy and rainy....today was sunny and hot.  Things always look different when the sun is shining so I drove over this familiar road and stopped to take a picture of the fence post and then the barn.

As I was taking pictures I could see a man walking across the field toward me, obviously on his way to speak to me.  My first instinct was to turn and get back in the car and drive away....but I thought, heh, I am not doing anything wrong, I am standing in the road, not on anybody's property....and what the heck, I am taking pictures of a fence post, for goodness sake.

Well, sure enough his first words were..."can I help you"...no, just taking pictures, is there anything wrong? "well, just wondering why you are taking pictures of my boss's house"....oh, I am not taking pictures of the house, I am taking pictures of the fence post.   "Fence posts huh?, well we get a little suspicious out here when someone drives up on these quiet roads and starts taking pictures"....I then explain to him about visiting my husband and then finding solace in driving thru the country after these visits and taking pictures. And then I mentioned that I had been on this same road about a month prior, in the rain and had taken a picture of the old barn in the rain & mist.  "Oh," he says, "I am taking that old barn apart and re-finishing a basement with the barnwood."  If you have the picture I would really appreciate a copy of it, and any that you might take today. Not only would I like the picture but the new and old owners would really appreciate it as well."   

Today....

Last month....(look at the difference in the height of the corn.  I measured it today and it was at least 7 feet tall)

Just proves that a smile and a friendly word can turn someone's suspicions around really quickly.  I now know his name, and have his email.  Pictures are on the way.

Also on the way home I stopped by one of my favorite garden centers.  They were loaded with beautiful flowers to freshen up the pots that have become a little tattered....I have a couple that definitely needed some fresh new flowers.  Between barns & a stop at the garden center, my mood definitely lightened.

Now who wouldn't feel better after a stop here.

Bookclub met tonight....our book this month was "The Light Between Oceans" by M. L. Stedman....definitely a thumbs up for me.

And a couple of pics from the photo shoot on Wednesday....great family, good shots, perfect day.

Joining Nancy, Madge, Maria and Kristi..