good bye 2009

the day before yesterday, chiekos parents and her sister's family came to visit.

they brought a feast with them. such good food here in japan.

all kinds of salads and meat and sweets and fruit.

i was so full, but i had to keep eating.

yesterday ray was 6 weeks old.

he was smiling up a storm for us.

and also yesterday,

casey and chieko had a party for friends and coworkers.

it was fun and of course, like parties everywhere,

there was a ton of yummy food.

again, i ate.

today casey, chieko and doug went out to do some errands while i stayed here with ray, (you know how much this bothers me, NOT!!)

they came back with coffee and doughnuts from mr. donut.

i have to say,

japan has better doughnuts.

this morning i read ray one of his books,

brown bear, brown bear,

what do you see?

as you can tell, he really enjoyed it

we are staying in tonight,

the weather outside is frightful.

i hope you all have a safe and fun new years eve and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

december 28, 2009

cute, cute, cute

this was a different christmas...

santa did stop by, but

casey was working, we were waiting for doug.

we decided to wait to open presents.

casey, chieko, ray and i went to a christmas party at one of their coworkers homes, when casey was got through with work.

it was nice and there was lots of food.

casey chieko and ray opened their stockings when we got home.

they were kinda empty this year, (santa is sorry)

doug arrived safe and sound on saturday and even though he was tired, we open our presents and had a glass of wine. then it was off to bed.

i am still spending most of my time watching ray and feeling guilty (not THAT guilty) about not doing more for chieko, but she always says "watch ray?" when i ask what i can do.

chieko's family is coming for a visit tomorrow. i think they are just staying for the day.

it will be nice to see them again.

december 23, 2009

sad news, aunt bette and uncle tite both died. 3 days apart. they were 88 and 89. we cousins always loved going to visit them. i remember steam baths, watching lawrence welk beforehand and staying to watch carol burnett afterwards. an easter sunrise service and chocolate bunnies when we got home, going to the dolphin for dinner, just the 3 of us. sleep overs, waking up to the smell of bacon and coffee. i think uncle tite had bacon and eggs every morning for breakfast. aunt bette always made fried eggs for the dogs too. i remember the garden and bags of apples in the fall. peanut butter in the bird/squirrel feeders. the deer head in the living room. when we moved to west barnstable, i used to ride my bike to their house almost every day, with casey. he would play and i would have 10:00 coffee with them. coffee in the glass, stove top coffee pot. stop and shop on thursdays and lunch at woolworths. beagles and recycling before anyone else did it.. so many other things i will always remember..

snowy

it snowed the last couple of days and looks very christmasy. i would post some pictures, but you know....

i am still spending most of my time enjoying the company of casey, chieko and ray. i made dinner once and have washed a few dishes... made some coffee. i am not much help, but chieko keeps telling me that she likes to be able to do other things while i sit with ray. i am not complaining a bit. i hope she really means it.

yesterday casey and i went to the beach to look at the waves, during the wind, snow, rain. they were gigantic and crashing in all directions. it wasn't too bad walking from the parking lot to the beach, but boy was it cold walking back to the car. after the beach we went to the electronics store to get a new usb(?) cord so i can keep myself online. casey's old one had a broken clip so if i wasn't careful moving my computer, it unplugged. i was looking a camera's and was really tempted to buy one, but casey told me i could use his if i wanted to, so i didn't get one (yet). next we stopped at the bread store. what a great shop. all home made breads and sandwiches. scones and donuts. it smelled so good walking in and i was hungry. i got a hotdog wrap thingy and casey got a sandwich, we ate them in the car on the way home. we also got some little cheese flatbread crisp things, delicious and a loaf of walnut something else yummy. a croissant, a hushpuppy type thing, a sausage type roll and the bake shop specialty bread, a crescent shaped crispy outside soft inside temptation. we shared them at dinner along with soup that chieko made. i had my first quail egg. i was afraid, but it was fine.

chieko made some yummy dishes with daikon radish yesterday. she and i had them for breakfast and some leftovers with dinner, too. i was so full.

i went to bed early and woke up at 4. chieko was feeding ray so when they were done, she went back to bed and i sat watching him sleep. casey is up now watching a football game on slingbox. he is holding ray and i am going to make some more coffee.

snow

i still have no pictures... i have been waking up really early, sometimes i find chieko with ray and if he has been fed, i tell her to go on to bed, i can watch him. this morning the room was empty, everyone in bed sound asleep. it is quite cold here and when i looked out the window i found snow. the last couple of days there has been snow on the mountain top, but only rain and hail here. there have also been rumblings of thunder. one last night that actually shook the house. i love thunder.

most of my time has been spent hanging around the house, reading, staring at ray, playing games on the computer, holding ray, watching some tv on the slingbox.... staring at ray some more. i still feel like i should be more helpful to chieko, but she says she likes being able to do laundry and cook while i keep watch on the baby. i works for me, but i feel guilty. i think i am making dinner tonight.

stealing from casey (again)

so you know i forgot the camera, casey took this picture of me with baby ray today.

this is what i have been doing... chieko feeds him, i burp him and take a nap with him.

it is very tiring!! for both of us.

sometimes we walk around the house, looking at pictures

i am not homesick, i can't even think about leaving.

hello japan

the trip to japan was really quite uneventful. that is a good thing. my flights were on time and mostly smooth. it was windy in boston so the takeoff was a little bumpy, but that was all.

the flight to tokyo was long of course. i had a window seat. two men shared the row. the older man on the aisle slept for most of the flight and i thought i would never get to go to the bathroom. finally middle seat man got up and so did i. middle seat man was nice, (but he had bad breath) he showed me how to work the remote for the tv and got my attention whenever the nice flight attendants wanted to give me food or beverage. casey had said all nippon was superior to other airlines. i have to say, the flight attendants were very attentive, they were constantly coming around with hot drinks, cold drinks, snacks. i don't think they sat down during the entire flight and they were always smiling and pleasant. i had ordered vegetarian meals and they were delicous, really delicous. i had veggie lasagna with salad, bread, some green beans and tofu. maybe there was something else, but i forget. the second smaller meal was noodles with veggies and a roll along with some sliced fruit, applesauce. again, very tasty. this in addition to snacks. i got to choose which movies i wanted to watch, or play video games ( i didn't). i watched edward scissorhands, when harry met sally, the lake house and the coco chanel story. i read some, did some sudoku and tried to sleep some. i did doze for short stretches.

i had no problems with customs or immigration, i didn't think i would... but man, my suticases were heavy. i was sweating like a madman trying to hoist them onto a cart, the big suitcase weighed 68 pounds. i have no idea how much the smaller bag weighed, plus the 2 carry ons. whew...

i had checked on the website to see how much overweight bags were, to decide if i should bring another bag or mail some stuff. it said it would be $25.00 for overweight bags and i figured that was my cheapest option. at the ticket counter in boston, one of the checkers told me that it was going to be $150 for the bag. i said oh, i thought it was only $25. she said "to japan?" like i was out of my mind. the guy who was originally helping me punched it into the computer and said "narita?, she's right.. $25.00." yay... of course i had no choice, i would have had to pay the $150, but i liked the $25 much better.

i spent my 4 hours in tokyo drinking milk tea, people watching, listening to podcasts on my laptop and dozing. more reading and sudoku and it was off to komatsu where casey was waiting on the other side of the glass watching me, once again stuggling to get those heavy bags onto the cart. unless i do some crazy shopping here, i will be able to fit my second bag and one carry on into the big suitcase and not be nearly at the weight limit, ( even with a baby in it). no i am just kidding, i will put him in the carry on.

i am spending lots of time staring at and holding ray. he is a dolly. i forgot my camera.

2 days

well, i have today and tomorrow to finish getting myself ready for my trip to japan. i am going to try to get everything done today, so that tomorrow i can do the things i am forgetting i need to do today.

i got up at 5 this morning, just woke up and decided to go ahead and get out of bed. i folded some laundry, made jesse's lunch and after doug got up at 5:45, i made the bed and started cleaning the bathroom. i like to have the house clean whenever i go away, so that when i come home everything is neat and tidy. of course doug and probably nitzy, will still be here NOT cleaning while i am gone. i know my mom will pick up and i have asked debbie for a cleaning session after doug comes to japan.

so for the rest of this day i will dust, vacuum, wash the floor and finish cleaning the bathroom. then i will wrap christmas presents and really try to sort out my office!!

jesse thinks..

that sweet baby ray looks like

blue steel

from zoolander.

i did not see the movie,

but i can see what he means,

hahaha

ouchie

the crazy drivers were out today.

i went to do some errands and shopping today and i can't tell you how many people were just pulling into traffic, racing through parking lots, all without even looking.

i was pulling out of a parking lot, onto north st. turning left

another car was pulling out of a parking lot across the street, he was turning to his left.

we should have bypassed each other, but for some reason (he didn't see me) he just came straight across.

cheryl was with me. we saw him coming. i just stopped, thinking he would too.

he did not.

2 weeks, 4 days (till i go to japan)

the count down continues

i just saw (and heard) sweet baby ray, live on video chat... casey woke him up because it was time to eat, so i got to watch him stretch and yawn and finally open his eyes. they let him imp just a little before chieko fed him, so i could hear.

2 weeks, 5 days

but again, who's counting

i can't wait to meet this baby!!

anyway... yesterday, i went to the harry potter exhibition in boston with cheryl, brandon, leah and sam.

it was a nice exhibition, but too crowded and hot.

now i need to watch all the movies again, maybe reread the books.

today, we went to lahey to visit cindi. she is doing all right.

she wanted me to wash her hair using one of those shampoo caps, that i had never seen until she was there last time. it looks like a shower cap, but it has a liner with leave in shampoo and conditioner. they heat it in the microwave and we tuck cindi's hair into it and massage it around. once it cools off, off it comes. you just towel dry or blow it dry.

joyce took us to dinner on the way home, joe's american bar and grill.

cobb salad.

nannie bean

well you all know that casey and chieko had their sweet little baby boy on november 18th. my advice is to go to thesoybean.wordpress.com

i am counting the days till i go to meet the little fellow. 3 weeks and 1 day.

today i went and worked with cousin susan. i filed and photo copied. tomorrow i will try to be as productive in my own office.

i'm better

dear diary,

oh my gosh!!! i was sick for 48 hours. it started with a cough/scratchy throat. i thought i was getting a cold. wednesday afternoon the headache started and the fever. that was life for the last couple of days. cough, headache, fever... repeat. so the fever and headache are gone and all that's left is the cough. annoying... and my abs hurt!!

november 2nd

dear diary,

i can't believe it has been SO long since i posted something.

it has been a busy busy few weeks.

cindi ended up back in the hospital twice. she went back in to have more fluid drained, she had to have a chest tube for 5 days or so. then 2 days after coming home, she had to go back in because her electrolytes were out of whack. the drs were not able to keep her sodium high enough, so they transferred her to lahey clinic. it is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours away, depending on traffic and who is doing the driving. she has been there for a week now. the family is taking turns going up to keep her company. richard lives closer, so he has been going more often. they are giving her a new medication that, as of yesterday, seems to be working. she was moved to the i.c.u. a few days ago, because she is having some difficulty breathing. so far the oxygen is helping with that, but she is very tired and she is very anxious to come home.

throw in the trip to oklahoma, with the wake and funeral and the sadness of it all..... (i don't want either of those by the way).... i am feeling a bit distracted. the house is a mess. i am not complaining, i have so much to be thankful for.

we put 104 on the market again a week or so ago. (losing track of time here). cheryl and i went to sullivan's and bought a statue of saint joseph. i buried him on saturday and have to pray to him for nine days that he will help us sell the house... the woman at the store said her sister did it and her house sold in two weeks. i am praying.

yesterday i went to macy*s and got a two pair of jeans for my big japan trip. mine are so old now that the belt loops are started to tear when i use them to pull the jeans on. i also got a shirt and some leggings and a couple of "unmentionables." anyway, i shouldn't need anything else clotheswise. i also got some christmas gifts: restaurant gift certificates and something for chieko. i can't say what, in case she reads this.

xo

more christmas and random

this is a christmas blanket for alexia

it also all flannelly and cozy

and i bought the front all in a one piece panel

yesterday i came out onto the porch and found nitzy enjoying the new (to us) chair

one day last week, as i was driving home,

the sun was shining brightly on the house,

but the trees all around were shaded

i don't know if it shows here, i am no photographer,

but it was cool

october 12th

dear diary,

happy columbus day.

we had company off and on all day. we love company. cheryl came over for coffee this morning. jesse cleared an area, this weekend, between the old house and the new house. i put a couple of chairs in the cleared area and we sat there with our coffee. it slopes upward from the road and provides a nice view of the bog and little pond.

debbie and kevin came over with shawn and mackenzie later in the morning. their printer isn't working and she wanted to print out the itinerary for the trip to oklahoma. debbie, kevin and i are going out for geny's funeral. she died saturday. she had been in and out of the hospital a lot this year, but i think it was still unexpected at this time. i have been really sad all weekend.

laurie came over around noon and had tea. she wrapped christmas presents for me. it was on my list of things to do over the holiday weekend. i am trying to get ahead of the game, since i will be leaving for japan on december 11th. i have put a small dent in my list and if i wrap as i buy, i should be in good shape before i go.

cindi came home saturday from the hospital. she has to go back as an outpatient to have more fluid drained this week. the cat scan they did before she left, showed that there was still some in her lung. they wanted to keep her until tomorrow, but she opted to go back this week instead.

i didn't get much done today, so i will scramble tomorrow to get caught up a bit before leaving early wednesday morning. the wake is thursday and the funeral friday. we come home saturday.

i have some pictures to post, but i need to get them onto the computer. i will do that a little later, so you have something to REALLY look forward to tomorrow.

october 9th

dear diary,

i am having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

i think i have stepped on some toes.

anyway....

cindi is doing well and feeling better after having fluid drained from her lung. i feel really bad that she spent all morning alone, before her procedure. when i spoke with her at 9 this morning i thought they taking her to do it soon after we hung up. it turned out she spent at least 2 hours waiting. i would have gone to keep her company. her family is taking turns visiting with her this afternoon and evening. maybe i can go tomorrow. hopefully she can come home then. i hope she knows i am thinking of her.

i caught up on a lot of chores today while waiting for news from the hospital. i rolled coins. our change jar (not a big one) was full. i rolled over $50. i was pleasantly surprised.

we are going to martha and herb's for dinner tonight. i made inside out ravioli. herb's daughter is here from california. she was a little girl the last time i saw her. we will also be celebrating april's birthday. it was yesterday.

the weather is warmish and raining. the leaves are changing and falling. i really love this time of year. it is my favorite.

october 8th

dear diary,

it is staying dark later in the morning and i have a harder time getting up while it is still dark outside. i woke up at 5:07 and was really happy to not have to get up yet. i woke up again and it was 6:15. i got up. exciting reading so far, eh.

i called jesse (after making his lunch, ham and cheese w/spicy mustard on 10 grain bread, and all the usual sides) and he said that he wasn't coming over. he still had yesterday's lunch, since he got out so early.

i spoke with devin yesterday. he was napping so we didn't talk long. he had asked how i make meatloaf (beatloaf) the last time we talked, he was going to make one. i don't really use a recipe, so i told him "about this much and that much". he said it came out fine, except he used too much ketchup for the glaze for the top. (ketchup brown sugar and worcester sauce)

last week i spent most of my days cleaning and washing windows, my incentive being that the relatives were coming on saturday. this week i have done nothing. i do make the bed and load and unload the dishwasher. anyway, today i am planning to catch up on laundry and at least run the vacuum. everything else is still looking pretty good.

i will post this later in case something really exciting happens during the day!!

well i cleaned the master bathroom and that was it for chores today. i spent the day at the e.r. with cindi.. she has fluid in one of her lungs and was admitted, finally, after about 6 hours. they will probably drain the fluid tomorrow and she will feel much better. she has been sick for about a week (?) and after being on antibiotics for a few days, was not feeling any better. i'll keep you posted on her condition.

october 7 th

casey thinks i should start posting the days events, like patty, so my blog isn't so boring. he didn't say that last bit, those are my words. little does he know, it STILL won't be too interesting. hah

ok so this is my day....

dear diary,

today it was raining like mad when i got up. it was dark and gloomy. it was one crazy day of weather though. it was in the low 70's by mid afternoon and the sun was shining. then it rained again. and got sunny again.

morning was uneventful... chores, games on facebook while i waited to see if casey would be available for video chatting, he was. yay!!

jesse dropped nitzy off when he picked up his lunch and coffee. todays lunch was: roast beef on a whole wheat bulky roll, with chips, fig newtons, a cheese stick, banana, boiled egg and fruit snacks.

i was going to take nitzy to the vet for him, but he got out of work early because of the weather and took her himself.

i need to call devin to see (again) how is emt class is going.

i took gramma to get her hair done, while she was there i went and got a flu shot. then picked up a case at dr. l's and ran into the grocery store to get some bread, milk, cream and a few other things. after picking up gramma, we went to pick bryana up at school. brother dougie had a meeting and wouldn't be out in time to get her. we stopped at mcdonald's and got her a yogurt parfait (they are so yummy) and some apple dippers. ( you don't have to get unhealthy food EVERY time you go there). we dropped her off to dougie and came home.

i had some shipping to do when i got back so i packed it up and went to the post office, getting there only 5 minutes before they closed.

husband doug has gone to running class. i went a few times and walked the track at the high school while he ran, but it is wicked windy now and will be too cold. it will also be dark before he finishes up and, also, i am a lazy slug.

we will probably have leftover chili for dinner or red beans and rice, with smoked sausage. i am going to make a salad to go with whichever....

stealing from casey

beautiful, beautiful mama

sweet baby, almost ready

my sweet baby, i think i see a resemblance

merry christmas

this is the blanket i made for sweet baby ray

for christmas.

it was really easy because i bought the

front piece all put together in a panel.

same thing with the back,

all the little squares were already sewn together.

i just tied the front, batting and back together and sewed

on the binding.

it is all flannelly and chenilley.

very cozy.

i hope he loves it.

blanket # 2

when i finished with casey's blanket

i decided to try making another one.

i made this one for bellah,

chelsie's new baby.

i think it came out pretty cute.

sadly.... 2 of the turkeys were hit on 6a.

turkeys

these wild turkeys have been spotted in the neighborhood all summer.

a mama and 8 babies.

nitzy has had fun chasing them a couple of times,

when i let her out, not realizing they were in our yard.

cheryl said she saw them eating at her bird feeder.

the babies are almost the same size as their mom, now.

we see them on 6a, too, and worry that they will get hit.

blanky done

the edging is cut and stitched to the front (by machine)

and back (painstakingly by hand)

TA DAH!!!

and it is in japan waiting for sweet baby ray

(although casey may be snuggling with it for now)

(i had to edit this post, when i realize i had already posted practically the same stuff!!)

i can't keep a secret

remember casey's blanket?

i had the bright idea to "fix" it and

send it to casey and chieko

for sweet baby ray

i went to tumbelweeds and picked out some fabric

i had to remove all of the old, shredded backing

and worn out filling.

i managed to get it taken apart without

harming the printed top piece.

then i had to go back to tumbleweeds and sign up for some

one on one instruction on how to "quilt"

the first night i went, i cut and sewed a border onto the original

blanket, along with some additional fabric to bolster (?)

the very thin (loved) original piece

i went back the following week and layered

the top part

the new batting

and the new back.

after pinning the 3 layers together,

i hand tied the blanket in about

a million places

(i exaggerate!)

i don't know if you can

click on the pictures to see more detail

there is no class tonight,

so i will go back next week to sew on the binding.

this was going to be a surprise, but

i told casey this morning.

i am such a loser.

randomness

the lettuce is growing faster than we can eat it.

we share

the lilies

the daisies

nasturtiums

we had some of these in our salad the other night

beans!!!

little jerry

well here he is.... for now anyway.

he got a check up and his shots have been updated.

he jumped out of the car window today on the way home from the vet.

we were just one house away from home, he was on my lap, i was going slow.

he is roaming in the bog/woods at the moment.

he was not thrilled to be kept inside since tuesday..

i sure hope he comes back later.

i just spent $200+ on vet bills, haha.

here he is enjoying his first night back.

pppuuuurrrrr

blanky

this is casey's old blanket.

we brought it everywhere.

if we went for a bike ride, it was folded up and put on the seat, a cushion of sorts.

it was so loved and worn we had to sew a new back onto it.

just a sheet, but it held together until casey didn't need it any more.

he didn't take it to japan.

he left it for me.

you won't believe this!!!

cheryl and i were coming home from the post office this morning.

when we got to the next door neighbors house, there was a black and white kitty walking up their driveway.

we stopped and called "little jerry"

he turned and looked at us (it was him!!) and continued to walk up the driveway.

i got out and kept calling to him.

he didn't run away.

he let me pick him up, but jumped down when i started walking toward our house (he scratched me)

so i sat at patted him while cheryl drove to her house for cat food (i had given the rest of mine away). then i picked him up again and brought him home, into the lab, away from nitzy, where he wolfed down some food. then he heard nitzy outside the door and quickly hid out behind one of the cabinets.

he has a vet appointment in a couple of hours.

i hope i can get him out.

i am embarrassed that we buried someone else's cat in our back yard, but i feel a little better about being so unsure that the other cat was really him.

hair cut

i had my hair cut "etc. " today

sweet baby ray

not to be copying casey's blog,

but i am.

this sweet baby is a boy.

ray is the only name i have heard mentioned.

both great-grandpa's on casey's side are ray,

so is casey's middle name.

well, raymond, really.

i just can't wait to meet him when he gets hisself borned!!

aahh... summer

how pretty is she??

bryana resting on nitzy on the porch

nitzy resting on bryana on the floor

umbrellas

this is what we want

this is what we have

i guess we can comfort ourselves with this

.... maybe this ....

pretty funny

ha ha ha

i bought this hat to wear so my "natural" hair color doesn't fade in the sun.

no chance of that lately.

i hope i didn't waste $2.50.

did i mention it is raining?

meat loaf beet loaf

last night we had another lovely salad

this one with store bought lettuces, spinach,

carrot, tomato, red onion and

blueberries

meatloaf, mashed potatoes (delicious, made by jesse)

and steamed vegetables

it was quite tasty