Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sending Sunny Wishes To.......

Sending Sunny Wishes To.....
Sending sunny wishes to my Jack's half brother, Channing Lowe, in Missouri who is finally home from the hospital recovering from some type of blood disorder that required multiple blood transfusions. We are hoping you have a speedy recovery and your back to your old self real soon. You are in are thoughts and prayers.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Some of the Last Roses of Fall 2010

Some of the Last Roses of Fall 2010
The last roses of the season are so special because you know when they are gone there will be about five months without any roses to enjoy. So if you still have some roses on the vine, enjoy them now.

November Book Club Read

November Book Club Meeting
Book: Still Alice, by Lisa Genova

To learn more about this book go to my other blog:
http://piedmontreaders.blogspot.com/



NARFE Meeting For November

NARFE Meeting For November
The November NARFE meeting for the Manassas, VA chapter was held on November 17 and the featured guest speaker was Linda McMillon who was works for the Prince William Hospital as a diabetes educator. Did you know that November is diabetes awareness month. And did you know that diabetes is becoming epidemic here in the United States.
Some ways to control diabetes:
1. Control food intake
2. Exercise each day to burn calories
3. Check sugar levels with a glucose meter
4. Take a diabetes course at the Prince William Hospital or your local hospital
5. Restrict carbs like bread, corn, potatoes, peas,
6. Restrict sweets like candy, cookies, cakes and pies

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Skywatch Friday = Autumn Leaves Coming Down



Skywatch Friday = Autumn Leaves Coming Down
(Mainly From Our Three Bradford Pear Trees
and Our Neighbors Red Maples.)
Hope everyone is off to a wonderful start to the Christmas season.
Now please go visit some other Skywatch Friday memes by just clicking here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/



No Matter What Your Mode of Transportation....

No Matter What Your Mode of Transportation.......Jack and I Hope You Made It To A Place Serving Thanksgiving Dinner Today!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Time Is Flying By!

Time Is Flying By!
Ready Or Not The Holidays Are Here
Thanksgiving weekend is here and it is now just four weekends till Christmas.
Wow!
Time Is Flying By!

And The Winner Is Jennifer Grey!

And The Winner Is Jennifer Grey!

Jennifer Grey beat Kyle Massey and Bristol Palin to take home The Dancing With The Stars trophy. Yea!!!!! I thought she was the best. It was great to see a senior citizen take out a couple of youngsters on this show.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Who Is Going To Cruise Away With The Trophy?

Who Is Going To Cruise Away With The Trophy?

The Dancing With The Stars finale is tonight. Who is going to cruise away with the trophy? I can't wait to find out. Lots of controversy surrounding Bristol Palin staying while others who seemed to have danced better have been shown the door. Now we are down to the final three: Jennifer Grey, Kyle Massey and Bristol Palin. All along I've been thinking that Bristol doesn't show much dancing talent but I must admit she did a great job last night on her freestyle take of a dance from the show Chicago. I've also been reading in the media that the Tea Party folks have found a way to send a lot of votes Bristol's way. I don't know if this is true or false. Anyway tonight we shall find out who gets the dancing trophy to take home. Who do you want to see win this year?

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Living Room Tree Is Up

The Living Room Tree Is Up
Now it is time to finish a few other decorating projects and then start on addressing Christmas cards. Like I said yesterday I like to get all the dirty work done before Thanksgiving so I'm being brief today on my blog and getting right to work on Christmas chores.
News Flash: The Christmas email ads have begun coming in on the computer. Just when I was celebrating the end of all the political emails we got at the end of October and first part of November. Fiddlesticks.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Weekend To Decorate The House For Christmas

Weekend To Decorate House For Christmas
The weekend before Thanksgiving Day now seems to be the weekend to decorate the house for Christmas. I used to do a fall theme for Thanksgiving but now in my old age I just put away the Fall/ Halloween decor of orange and yellow and go straight to the Christmas decor of red and green. I think a lot of other folks do the same thing. Jack just got back from Loewes where he said there were a ton of people buying Christmas lights and decorations.

I think part of the reason for the now early pre Thanksgiving decorating for Christmas is that many hometown Christmas parades and bazaars start the weekend of Thanksgiving and I think that folks want to enjoy every precious weekend after Thanksgiving having holiday fun instead of holiday work. And let's face it decorating the house for Christmas is a lot of work involving finding the decor, adding to the missing supply (for us lights and balls this year), putting the decor up and storing somewhere all the stuff you had to remove to make room for the holiday decor. I got smart this year and designated a large container in the garage for stuff removed from shelves and tabletops. The one other item in the garage right now is a floor lamp that I can't seem to find a spot for in the living room.

Final thought about early decorating: you can decorate early when you use an artificial tree. I like the fact that artificial trees are not a fire hazard. I also remember that when I was a child the live tree that looked good on the tree lot in the dark almost always looked not as good when brought into the house. You also had to contend with adding water to well of the tree stand to keep the tree fresh. The littlest member of the family had to crawl under the tree to do this job which meant it was usually me and I remember always spilling the water and making a mess on the floor. So here's to artificial trees and early holiday decorating.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Skywatch Friday = The National Marine Corp Museum Part III

Skywatch Friday = The National Marine Corp Museum Part III

Quantico, Virginia

November 6, 2010

Does the architecture of this building remind you of a famous war scene? That's right. The building has been designed to remind you of the famous scene of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in World War II both on the outside and on the inside of the museum. The day we visited the museum we were lucky enough to meet a marine who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima. This lovely gentleman told us that he is now volunteering at the museum to tell the story of Iwo Jima since the death of his dear wife. He did a great job explaining the battle of Iwo Jima and answering questions of the crowd of visitors. Earlier in the day we had heard him playing the piano outside of Tun Tavern at the museum. He was playing romantic serenades in the fashion of Mancini or Montavani. Very relaxing and lovely.




The granite lobby with the U.S. flag and the marine flag and examples of marine air craft used in various landing operations.




The marines have landed.

Right in the middle of the lobby of this museum.

I can never ever leave a museum without checking out the gift shop. On this day I found a giant leggo version of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima! Hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of the museum. To see more photo of the museum see my blogs for Wednesday morning and Thursday morning of this week. To learn more about the National Marine Corp Museum at Quantico, Virginia go to this site: http://www.mcmuseum.com/



To visit other Skywatch memes just click here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

The National Marine Corp Museum Part II

The National Marine Corp Museum Part II
The Tun Tavern
The Tun Tavern is a very small intimate dining room off of the main Mess Hall at The National Marine Corp Museum. It only seats around 30 people at one time and the day we were there with our out of town friends I think all the other diners were current and former marines who kept yelling comments to the man dressed in red, white and black in the above photo. All the yells were yells of approval as this gentleman in colonial dress was explaining the oil painting behind him that this museum had commissioned to be painted of the most famous U.S. marines. All the marines whether from the 1770's or the 1940's or the 1950's are portrayed in colonial attire. If you look closely, you might spot Col. John Glenn of Ohio, First Sergeant Dan Daly, Col. David Shoup and other famous marines from famous battles.

This speaker then pointed out the man at the bottom of the painting holding a beer mug and said his name which I now forget. He asked us if we knew why this man was in the painting. We said no. He then said that he didn't know either until one day this man in the painting walked into the Tun Tavern and announced that's me in the painting so the speaker asked him what he had done to deserve to be in the painting. The gentleman replied because I gave $250,000 to have this painting created for Tun Tavern.

Our guests enjoyed the speaker's talk and then proceeded to eat with gusto the marine burgers and beers that appeared at our dining table. I would recommend eating at Tun Tavern versus The Mess Hall at the museum. But do get there early. It fills up quickly since there are only around 30 seats in the tavern.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

National Marine Corp Museum Part I

National Marine Corp Museum Part I
The other weekend we met some out of town friends for lunch at the Tun Tavern at the National Marine Corp Museum. After lunch we toured with our friends the marine museum which has one of the most impressive history galleries in the United States. You come away with a quick and dirty military history of the United States from the Revolutionary War to the current gulf conflicts. Above is a photo of the main lobby of the museum that has marine military aircraft suspended from the glass roof. More about the glass roof later.

On the walls of this lobby are famous marine quotes and photos of marines.

Near the front entrance to this lobby we noted the U.S. flag, the marine flag and a type of non-manned plane that is currently being used for bombing operations in Afghanistan.


There are galleries devoted to each major U.S. war effort. The one I like the most is the Korean War gallery that depicts Korea in the cold winters of 1950, 1951, 1952 with snow on the mountainsides and in the valleys. You enter this gallery and quickly realize that it is refrigerated so it really and truly feels cold like winters in Korea in 1950's. The scene depicted above in the lobby shows the marines landing by helicopter in a desert setting.

The day we were at the museum which is located at Quantico, VA there was a boy scout troop taking a guided tour of the museum.

There was also a contingent of young navy personnel touring the museum. We were wondering if they were from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Now back to that glass roof. Look at the bottom rows of glass and you will see black tape covering bullet holes in the glass. Yes, our new D.C. sniper has shot out windows here as well as at the pentagon and a marine recruiting station and a coast guard recruiting station in Northern Virginia. The sniper shootings started October 19 and in spite of intense investigations by various authorities including the FBI this person still has not been apprehended. Scary.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our lunch experience at the Tun Tavern at the National Marine Corps Museum.

Final Thought For The Day: This past Sunday, November 14, was the anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps. Celebrations for the anniversary had already started the previous weekend that we were there.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Hosta Has Turned Yellow

Hosta Has Turned Yellow
I like how the hosta has gone from green to yellow due to the November morning frost.
Look closely and you will see my shadow on the lawn as I take this photo.


Monday, November 15, 2010

Still Lots of Color

Still Lots of Color
It is the middle of November and there is still lots of color on the trees here in Virginia. I like the mornings when the sun lights up the leaves in a golden radiance. On another note Jack and I just got back from a working vacation at our daughter's condo while she was away in Hawaii. I'll explain more tomorrow. Right now I need a little nap.



Saturday, November 13, 2010

Fall Leaves

Fall Leaves
So beautiful to see on the trees.
So much work getting removed from the flower beds and lawn.
I use a rake to get the leaves out of the flower beds while Jack goes around with our lawn mower to pick up and bag the leaves on the lawn.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Bow Wow!


Bow Wow!

There is a winery close to our home that is called Barrel Oak Winery or BOW for short. The owners have dogs at the winery and every guest to this winery can bring their dog on a leash. Well, Jeanine showed up on our doorstep with Barney in tow the other week so Jack decided that we should take Jeanine and Barney to Barrel Oak Winery for some wine sipping in the fall sunshine.

Jack settled down on the picnic table bench.

Barney, the black lab, settled down under the picnic table and sampled the pebbles on the ground. LOL!


This day the winery was the busiest that we have ever seen it.There must have been around 75 different groups of people enjoying the winery's facilities. And there had to be at least 50 dogs enjoying the winery facilities too. This place sure knows how to treat a dog. Water bowls are provided at several locations and there's plenty of space in back for doggy potty breaks.
All the dogs sure come dressed for fun.
They are ready for ball and frisbee tossing.
Bow wow! Bow wow!
And all the humans are busy checking out the various breeds of dogs.
To learn more about BOW Winery go to this site:
www.barreloak.com



Thursday, November 11, 2010

Veterans Day - Time To Remember/Honor

Veterans Day - Time To Remember/Honor
Those who have served in the military
and those who are now serving in the military.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

News Flash: Election Result

News Flash: Election Result
We finally have a winner declared in the 11'th congressional district in Virginia. Keith Fimian, the Republican has conceded defeat in the election to Jerry Connolly. Less than 900 votes separated the outcome in the election.

The Lucky Cuss Restaurant Menu

The Lucky Cuss Restaurant Menu

Tombstone, Arizona is another western town that represents the old wild west. It is known as the town that was too tough to die. Every fall Tombstone, Arizona has a wild west festival called Tombstone Days. The man pictured on the cover of this old menu is Jack Hendrickson who moved to Arizona around 1960 and created The Lucky Cuss Restaurant and Barbeque Pit. Jack Hendrickson enjoyed doing western reenactments and I will always remember seeing him march with his burro in the Tombstone Days Parade when we lived in Arizona in the '70s.



Jack Hendrickson who moved to Arizona from Illinois named his new restaurant after another Tombstone legend, Ed Schieffelin who long ago had discovered two silver mines right outside of Tombstone that had earned him the nickname "The Lucky Cuss". Jack Hendrickson following in his idol's footsteps also thought he was "The Lucky Cuss" to be able to live and work in Tombstone so he named his restaurant The Lucky Cuss.


Jack Hendrickson became a Tombstone fixture by serving on the City Council for 8 years and for being the town mayor for 4 years. Jack died in 1988 but I think his restaurant is still in Tombstone and being run by his daughters.

Collected Menu - Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Collected Menu - Jackson Hole,Wyoming
If you look to the right on my blog and check my subject listings, you will find a category called Collected Menu. These are menus that I have collected over the past forty some years of places I have dined. The menu above is from Jackson Hole,Wyoming. I got this menu in 2007 when Jack and I took a 39 day trip across the United States. I think if you asked me to name my all time favorite western town, I would definitely have to say Jackson Hole. It just reeks with western charm from the town square that sports antlers to the mountains above the city that look as though the skiers could fly down and land in your lap on the town square. The Snake River Grill is on the town square and is a great western food place. Jack and I had a great meal here so I just had to ask for a menu to add to my menu collection.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Good Italian Food Far Away From Us

Good Italian Food Far Away From Us
This past August Jack and I took a roadtrip by car to New York, Canada and Vermont. The first day on the road we spent the night near Pulaski, New York and ate dinner at a fantastic family style Italian restaurant. I'm very sorry that I don't remember the name of the restaurant. You could tell that the owners were very, very proud of their Italian heritage. Look below.

Don't you just love these photos of the family's ancestors in Sicily?
I love old black and white photos like these.

Here's a map in Italian of Sicily.
Here is the restaurant's signature appetizer.

These were freshly baked bread balls that you dipped in olive oil, butter and spices.

Oh my! So delicious but so bad for you!

Monday, November 8, 2010

Good Mexican Food Close To Us

Good Mexican Food Close To Us
El Vaquero Restaurant
Washington Street
Haymarket, VA
Jack and I like the food and the quick service at this eatery.
I really like their frozen margaritas!
Yum, yum!

Here's a sample of a meal we have enjoyed here.