Thursday, December 8, 2022

Really Random Thursday, 12/8/22

Fifty years ago on this date, Mark and I got engaged. That's kind of mind boggling to me. We will celebrate our 50th anniversary on June 8.

My friend, Janice, took me out to dinner for my birthday. Our table was right next to this fireplace. The meal was delicious and we spent a couple of leisurely hours just catching up.

Also, this arrived in the mail yesterday, from Janice. Each year since 2018, she has sent me one of these snowglobe cards. I love them so much and look forward to receiving one each December, and now I have a nice little collection from a very special friend.
It took awhile to celebrate family Thanksgiving. COVID still makes unexpected appearances and disrupts plans. But we had a really wonderful time together on Saturday after Thanksgiving. We missed a few family members (Christa's brother, Aaron, was there with only two of his five kids--Tracy was home with the other three and we sure did miss them).

The dress that Ella is wearing was Christa's when she was little. 
My new Christmas mug--from the thrift store. Isn't it cute?
My friend, Amanda Jean, made the cutest mini quilt--out of scraps she grabbed from me when we were retreating together in Wisconsin in July. The two placemat-sized mini quilts were also made by her. I just love seeing them all together.
For a couple of reasons, Mark and I had to cancel a planned trip to New York City to see the holiday decorations. We had really been looking forward to it so that was a big disappointment.

Have you ever taken a virtual tour? I subscribe to a company called heygo and you can sign up for real-time tours. When I saw there was a walking tour down 5th Avenue, to the tree in Rockefeller Center, I signed up! The tour guides, Aaron and Patrick, are fabulous. I've "gone on" tours with them before. They are informative and funny. The walking tour was an hour and was the next-best thing to actually being there, minus the cold weather and crowds! There is a chat box so you can ask questions and they will answer in real time. It's really cool. I highly recommend virtual tours--you can go nearly anywhere in the world! 

Anyway, you can also take snapshots along the way and they were really good about stopping and trying to frame the scene for the photo with as few people as possible. 

One of these days we will make it there.

Blast from the past...beginning in 1996 when Aaron was a freshman in college, and continuing on long past the year he and Christa graduated, we had college kids over every Monday night during football season, to watch the game and have a home-cooked meal. Yes, back in those days I actually did cook. Now Mark does 95 percent of it! Anyway, today he was at a basketball game and ran into one of our "alumni," one of my favorites, Adam. I don't often miss all the cooking to feed a room full of college kids, but I sure do miss the good times we had with them.

So true...

Books I read in November, all mysteries except for The Latecomer. Lately I'm on an Alice Feeney roll--nearly done with all her books. I like the audible version because the narrator is excellent.  And there is always an unexpected twist. If you want a light mystery with some humor, I recommend the two Finlay Donovan books. 


And that's it for this week.

5 comments:

05 08
Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said... #

Looks like you had a wonderful time celebrating and being together with family! Your new Christmas mug is super cute. I'm sorry that you had to cancel much looked forward to travel plans, and I hope that it works out for you next year or sometime soon.

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

Virtual tours . . . what an interesting idea. Where else have you toured? I'm always interested in a new read. I'm working my way through the Ruth Galloway series and enjoying them a lot. I don't do audio books though so it takes me a couple of weeks to get through a book. Hope you are enjoying the Christmas season.

FlourishingPalms said... #

COVID sure does still wreak havoc with plans, but I'm glad you still were able to get together with so many family members. You're most fortunate to have family living nearby. My life is pretty dull compared to yours. Can't imagine ever going to NYC as it's not high on my want-to-go-there list, but I'm glad you were able to take tour. I'm still hoping to travel one of these days, but need to get a renewed passport before I can go where I really want to go. Your sewing room wall quilts look nice there all together. It's great that you can appreciate Amanda Jean's pieces like this. How nice that you've found an author you like so much. I enjoyed "Daisy Darker," but haven't read any of the others. I'm on a Charles Martin kick right now, listening to the sixth of his many titles. Being a resident of Jacksonville, Florida, his books tend to include Florida and its waterways, so I appreciate that. You'll certainly enjoy at least December and January drinking from your newly acquired mug. Happy no-snow days, though!

Deb Cox said... #

Well congratulations to you and Mark, Cindy. 50 years is amazing. Thanks for sharing your passions and your life and family with us. Take care over the holiday season and I shall wish you and yours a very happy one and let us all begin a very positive 2023 with kindness and grace. Cheers.

OPQuilt said... #

Fifty Year!! Wowzers! And I love that you went out with Janice, who would be a perfect date. I'm keeping your book recommendations handy, for when I finish up the ones in my list. And fun to see your Thanksgiving table, full of littles and bigs and smiles all around.

I actually think the walking tour of NYC is a brilliant idea, and love that they let you take snapshots. You will get there, you will, you will. (I'm just happy that Mark is much better.)