Texting

For years I’ve been texting a cousin and her husband sharing the same phone number. This week I received a text from her hubby with his photo and a text “Have you heard what’s going on?” I responded “Nice to hear from you, what’s happening?” He responded “It’s big!” I responded “What??” I then sent a text to my cousin on the shared phone and asked if hubby had a new number and to share that number with me. She responded “no” we only use the shared number, confirming that a new spam is circulating.

Happy Birthday

…….to me! Yes, I’m a Halloween Birthday Gal, age 79 and counting. Most of my costumes throughout the years were of the home-made type and my favorites were mostly Witches. Today I wore a black T-shirt with a large orange pumpkin decal and a teeny, tiny witch hat. I was the only one in costume while celebrating at a 1 pm lunch with a group of single ladies from my community, “The Gadabouts”, at a local restaurant. We’ll meet once a month, always for lunch, at a different location. I think there were 30 of us and I don’t think they knew it’s Halloween. Afterward, a quick stop at Aldi’s, the drive thru ATM and WAWA’s to fill up the tank and then home to reread the birthday cards I received and smell the roses in the bouquet of flowers my daughter sent me. A perfect day.

Restless Decorating

I’ve been shopping for a window covering for my front door that was not the traditional sheer. I don’t need it for privacy, but to shield the inside from the hot afternoon sun. I think this macrame option is perfect. I simply have to trim the length. I’ve already played with some of the strands of yarn adding more knots. As usual AmazonSmile came to my rescue. After blogging now for one week I struggled for awhile to include my first photo. Now I’m an expert.

Unpacking

It’s been a week since returning to FL and I have only one more bag to unpack, my “train case” aka makeup bag. Not an easy task because I forgot that I already have everything I need, in my stuffed drawers, that was left before returning to NJ for the summer. There’s a zip bag with an assortment of lipsticks; one with hair accessories; another with “just in case” items form the medicine cabinet; etc, etc. Ugh! My daughter would say “You have no obligation to save or keep more than two of anything”. Maybe I’ll toss this bag in the bottom of the closet for now.

Long Johns (Roasted Potatoes)

53 years ago, before I was to be married, I sat with my mother and a steno pad with the purpose of jotting down the recipes of my favorite meals. I was 26 years old and had limited cooking experience. After I share this recipe from the faded page, I will type it & file on my computer…..Preheat oven at 350 degrees…..Wash potatoes and slice lengthwise in fours….Olive oil bottom and sides of pan…..Place potatoes and (whole onions) in pan, salt generously, dash of pepper…..Sprinkle with celery seed and add drop of oil…..Cover with foil and place in oven…..Check in one hour by sticking with fork; uncover and let brown by raising temperature to 400-450 for about ten minutes. Simple. Easy. Delicious.

Finally – The Season Begins

Yesterday my number was finally called after waiting 90 minutes for my car to unload after arriving in Sanford, FL on the Amtrak Auto-train. Next trip I’ll pay extra for priority service. I actually didn’t mind the delay because I was well rested. I upgraded from Coach Seating on previous trips to a Roomette (more info on this at a later time). 2-1/2 hours later I’m home on the west coast. This year the season begins one month earlier than usual for me.