"Night Sky"

Tonight as I was coming home from dinner and a movie with "the girls", the moon and Venus really got my attention. When I got home, I got the camera out, brushed up on how to take a timed exposure and headed out to the back yard. I'm about half-way happy with the picture. Unfortunately I can't seem to make this photo enlarge when it is clicked on. Bummer. If you could enlarge it, you would see many colored lights which I think are stars that just happen to catch the reflected lights just right. But then, that is my uneducated guess.

Online Games Revisited

I have a new favorite online game -- Upwords. Then look for Upwords. I have a friend in NJ that loves to play also and so we manage to get a few games in during the week. A great way to spend an evening with a friend who lives a long way away.

Online Games

I love playing games, especially word games.  I usually get beat but what the heck.  Anyway on FaceBook there are several word games that I like to play with some of my friends.  A couple of my favorites are Word Twist and Scramble.  But my favorite now is Scrabble.  I played four times over the last week.  First time was really good.  The other times were fun.  One of the things I really like about the Scrabble game is that it is real-time.  Now if they can just get Upwords as an online real-time game.

A Step Back In Time

Today I went over to my folks and two of my cousins (Rose and Ivan) were there with pictures that Rose had scanned into her computer from old slides and photos. What fun it was looking at pictures of our dads when they were kids, our grandparents before they had kids, our great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. There were also some of the farm where our dads great up. It was the farm where my grandmother was born and lived her whole life except for the last 2 or 3 years. There were pictures of my dad and mom before they were married and some after. There were even a couple of me when I was a little over a year. One was one of my favorite pictures of me -- sitting on my haunches with my dad's work cap on "helping" him do some carpentry work. He was knelt down with a saw in his hand and a piece of lumber in the other. We asked him today what project he was working on but he couldn't remember. It was a fun afternoon. Dad told us all kinds of stories, most of which I had never heard.

It's the first time my two cousins and I had ever sat down and spent an afternoon just talking and reminising. We should do it more often. Their other brother and sister and my two brothers really missed out on a fun afternoon. A memory was made today.

Winter Thaw

Today is the day.  It is really warm out there.  It's 48 degrees.  That is warm compared to the temps of under 30 for highs and lows of single digits or teens for more than a month.  The snow is really melting today.  Probably be some flooding.  The sun is shining so pretty.  I think I should get out there and enjoy this beautiful day.

It's also good that we are having a nice day today because it is Christmas for our family.  We are finally getting around to celebrating it.  We've tried a couple other times but because of sickness and scheduling conflicts, we've had to postpone.  The weather is much nicer today for it. 

We are also celebrating February birthdays today.  We have 3 in our family.  I led off, Monday is Dad's, and the 17th is my niece's.  How did any of us get to be as old as we are already.  Time sure flies.

Most of my morning was spent down in my craft room making birthday cards.  If my time was worth anything, those sure are expensive cards.  LOL   I had a great time doing them and that is what counts.  I'm not 100% satisfied with them but I'm still a beginner at paper crafting.  I'll get it one of these days.  I think the key word is PRACTICE!

The morning is gone and I have not had breakfast.  I got a little sidetracked.  My tummy is letting me know.

Friends

What would I do without them?  I don't even want to think about it.  They make life so worthwhile. 

For the last 2 weeks plus I have had a very good friend from NJ staying with me.  What a great time we had -- movies, games, eating good food, shopping, talking and celebrating.  She absolutely spoiled me on my birthday.  It was one of my 4 best birthdays in my memory. 

Birthdays are made special by friends and/or families.  This year, friends are the ones who made it special.  They remembered me with cards, emails, online messages, a special cake, lunches, a special home cooked dinner and gifts too!  Being remembered is such a special treat.

I would like to thank my friends for making me feel so special, not only on my birthday but all year long.  God has truly blessed me with several really good ones.  You are all very special to me.