HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROY !

Today, to celebrate Roy's 62nd birthday, we went to Port Erie to the Maritime Museum. What a wonderful experience it was! We started out with Roy putting his face in a wooden cutout of Commodore Oliver Perry who defeated the British while sailing the US Brig Niagara in Lake Erie during the war of 1812.

We had a personal guided tour of the entire museum and our guide knew mountains of information about this apparently famous battle. In fact, we found out that Perry was the guy who immortalized the words, "We have met the enemy and they are ours". Here you can see a sample of the weapons of choice during that period.

Here our guide is explaining the finer points of the many steps necessary to load and fire a cannon. With a full crew of cannon operators, it took about 1 1/2 minutes to prepare and fire a single cannon.

I thought this particular display was interesting as it showed three dimensional figures representing sailors preparing the cannon for firing during the battle.

These photographs show the very large sails on display inside the museum.

This is the US Brig Niagara being made ready for winter on Lake Erie. The sails have been removed and much of the rigging has been put inside as winter is really hard on the ropes.

Even without the sails it is just beautiful!

This is a photograph sighting down one rail.

I can't begin to tell you the miles and miles of rope it takes to sail this.

After the tour we went in search of a nice place for coffee and cake. We found "Pufferbelly", a wonderful place decorated with vintage pieces of memorabilia related to fire departments and fire fighters. I must say they do know how to do chocolate! It was just a perfect way to celebrate Roy's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Today was the day I became 65 years old. Many years ago I used to think about being 65, and wondered what it would be like. Well, I NEVER knew it would be this good. I feel fabulous! And it was a fun day. We went to JoAnn's Fabrics and bought Christmas stuff, including some wonderful stockings to hang on our stone chimney. Also, I now have 8 small red cardinals and 8 small white snow birds on clips, to put on the tree. Then, we went to a very special event; the Contractors Appreciation Day at Home Depot. Yeah, it really was a hoot! We had a free lunch (hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, stuffed shells, cookies and cupcakes) and listened to all the vendors pitching their newest and best fake woods and vinyl siding. Did you know you can get vinyl siding in camo colors? Who knew? And, would anyone actually put that on their home? Then we stopped in to visit my Mother and took some photographs as she recalled aspects of the day of my birth. After that we went to our very favorite restaurant for coffee and dessert. What can I say. It was just heavenly! I really did get my chocolate fix! Next week is Roy's birthday. I wonder what we will do to celebrate?

ELECTION DAY....

Today is "local elections" and we had the honor of escorting my Mother to her polling place to cast her votes. After that we stopped at a roadside produce place and she bought a basket of apples and two large round green squashes. We ended up with half of the apples so maybe tonight I will make some warm chunky applesauce with cinnamon. It is cold today so that will be good! Behold the patriot....

WHAT TIME IS IT?

I have been needing a clock in my studio. You know how time flies when you're having the most fun, and there are other things I need to respond to, like regular living activities; cooking, laundry, etc. So, we went to the Dollar General store and bought this wall clock for $8.00. It has a wonderful clear glass surround that I could see real possibilities in! Enter acrylic paints!! Now, I have a colorful clock! I might still forget to leave the studio though.....

If you are looking for a unique and very affordable holiday gift, you might want to consider painting on a clock. It will be a one of a kind gift for sure! Huh. It might not be finished. It might need some more color, or some bling!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??

Huh. I am amazed. Some people STILL do not have their outside Christmas lights up! Ahh..but you know me. I am nutty for the best time of the year. I love the decorating, the baking, the gift making and wrapping. It all just gets me so excited so we have already put up some of the exterior decorations. Yeah, I know. It's just too much . Just humor me. That's what Roy does. (tee hee)