Christmas continued.....

Then, there was dinner with family, which was all lovely, warm, welcoming, fun and delicious.....

All in all, a lovely, wonderful, blessed Christmas, 2008.

Christmas, 2008

First we had plans, my mother and I, to go to New York for the day on the train. We were going to leave Springfield, MA at 7:40 a.m. and get to New York at 11:20 a.m. We were going to go to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 12:00 and to lunch at the Tavern on the Green at 1:30, returning home on the 4:30 train. We were very excited about the plan. The very night I went to pick up the train tickets, I got home to a phone message that Amtrak had canceled our 4:30 train out of New York. They could put us on a 3:00 train. Not enough time for lunch! The next, and only other train out of New York was at 8:00 p.m., which wouldn't have gotten us home until 11:35 p.m. This would have been too long of a day and too late for getting home. Over the next several days, I tried every permutation I could imagine for trying to make the trip work. In the end, it just was going to be too much of a hassle. Meanwhile, I had let family know we wouldn't be around to joing them this year. They were disappointed. Thankfully, they graciously welcomed us for dinner after plan A fell apart. We then decided to go to an early Mass with a favorite priest, and 8:30 a.m. Mass. It was held at the residence where this priest resides, which was beautifully decorated. Let me show you a tree and the altar.....

(I wish I knew better how to place things here.......ah well, let me continue with my story.....)

After a beautiful early morning Mass, Mom and I went to a little neighborhood diner which was open and had pancakes (me) and a waffle (Mom), with syrup and butter (yum) and coffee (basic, diner coffee, not so yum, but charming all in all). The people were friendly, and this was a rather fun "new tradition" (perhaps).

Then we went to Mom's, to exchange gifts.....with Gracie, Mom's dog (the cute little cocker spaniel).

Next, we went to our friend and Mom's downstairs neighbor, Jeanne's for coffee. Jeanne's dog is Sky, the handsome german shepherd.

Uh oh. I'm getting a "Could not contact Blogger.com" message, after all of the above. Let me try publishing this much, and then I'll try to show you Sky, Jeanne's handsome german shepherd.....

Rainy Afternoon in November

'Tis the last day of November, chilly and rainy outside, warm and toasty inside. A lovely day to be at home, with my "couch kitty," enjoying the warmth and relaxation....

Mom on Thanksgiving, 2008

Above is the dining room for the annual Thanksgiving buffet at the Hofbrauhuas, where Mom, Jeanne and I have celebrated for the last several years. Mom looked pretty, all dressed up, as usual. :-)

Late Fall Sunset

A beautiful late fall sunset in Ludlow, MA, as I return from my school day in Boston.....

Trying to figure out how to embed a youtube video.....

Happy Monday, everyone. (Is there anyone out there, I wonder?) I am trying to figure out how to embed a lovely youtube video here. It is of the song playing on my playlist, with pretty lovely pictures accompanying. Now if only I could figure out how to show it here.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1D3ejwQiVg

Try the hyperlink.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the pretty picture above, from my lovely memories of gorgeous California.....

A spot in the sun.....

Topaz, enjoying a spot in the sun, interrupted by the camera, in the middle of his ablutions, on a lazy weekend day at home with Mom.

Speaking of lazy, I've been playing around all morning, and have some reading for school to do. Have a lovely week. :-)

Oh, and I'm starting a playlist. The song I'm starting with is hijacked from a blog called, "Labyrinth studio." I'd never heard the song before, and really like it. Enjoy!

Did You Know Cows Like to Eat Pumpkins?

I didn't know cows like to eat pumpkins until I saw these two cuties enjoying them, on a gorgeous October evening in New England. This is at a newly opened farm store in Hadley, MA. It is a dairy farm, and they sell only local products. It is a scenic location, and a nice place to visit. I buy their home-made cookies just about every week these days. I love the cows, and I loved seeing them enjoy their pumkins. :-)

Train Travel

One of the best parts of train travel was my attendant from Chicago to L.A., the longest leg of the journey. His name is Vincent. He was sweet and attentive throughout the trip. Sadly, he was not my attendant on the way back, though he was on the train, and I did get to see him now and then, including right before boarding, when I got overcome for a few minutes with sadness about leaving beautiful California and my brother and niece, with whom I had been having such a wonderful time. He was a sweetheart. I would love to do it all again next year, and if I do, I would love to have Vincent as my attendant.

Also above are my brother, Ed, and niece, Erica, she in her "Hooters" shirt. :-)

Purple Flower, Bumblebee, and Abby Dabby Do!

This beautiful flower and bumblebee I found outside the home of my yoga teacher. Inside, lives Abby Dabby Do, otherwise known as "yoga dog." Abby is a great big love of a dog, who sometimes snores loudly with us and once even cuddled with me during "shivasana" (relaxation).

Topaz.....

Here he is, in all his glory, my one and only remaining cat, once number three of three and now king of the hill, as it were, which he really fancied himself to be all along. I started off with two kitties, Amber and Chloe. Amber, Chloe, and I moved to a condominium in June, 2000. Soon after, this guy started appearing on our deck and I started giving him food and water, as he was kind of scrawny and scrappy looking. Once or twice, I brought him in, thinking he might stay, but he would howl so loudly at night, that I would end up getting up and letting him out. And so, he had the best of both worlds, the outdoors to roam and a place to go for food and water when he chose to do so. One day, my come-to-the-house vet was coming by to see one or both of the other kitties, and I decided IF HE CAME on that day, I would bring him in and have her check him out. He did come that day, and I did bring him in. He checked out fine. No outdoor-cat diseases, and that was that. He got neutered that day and became my, indoor, third cat. Sadly, I have lost the other two, Amber, some years ago, and Chloe, this summer. We are down to me and him, probably for the duration. He's earned his time as my one and only, and again, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we may just keep it that way. Isn't he lovely? :-)

Mom's Big Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday, Mom! (Mom still hasn't been able to see my blog yet, as she has Webtv, an email system for the t.v., and no computer.) It is not clear if she will be able to access the blog. So far, she has not been able to. For her birthday weekend, we went to MGM Grand at Foxwoods Casino in CT yesterday, a frequent destination for her and her friend, Jeanne. Though I have been to Foxwoods many times over the years, I had not been there in quite some time and not since the arrival of the MGM Grand, which is grand indeed. We had a lovely lunch and then hung out while Jeanne played the slots for awhile. I looked in some very expensive shops, and Mom lounged by the pool. Then Mom and I went to the Gelato Cafe, where Mom enjoyed a coffee gelato. Today, we had brunch at a remodeled train station, called, appropriately enough, "Union Station." It was yum, delicious, and Mom enjoyed her gifts. (She is fun and easy to buy for; likes all sorts of pretty and cute things.)

Happy Sunday!

'Tis a gorgeous day here in western Massachusetts, after "a dark and stormy night," which left in its wake water in the basement (a forever problem for me) and a new water stain on the ceiling (a recurrent problem for me), and a loss of internet time last night and this a.m.!

Yesterday was "the first day of school" for me at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, where I had been a student at their Vermont campus since January, 2005, until the Vermont campus was closed at the end of June, 2008. The closing was a heart-breaking process for a small community of students and faculty who enjoyed very special relationships in our learning environment, which just happend to be in a remodeled old barn in a rural setting of great beauty. However, life goes on.....

And now for my latest pic. of the trip to California..... (Ain't she sweet?)

Weekend Blogger?

Hi All,


Funny, last weekend, when I was searching about, up popped "Tartx's" "Blogging without Obligation," the idea that one can blog without apology when one feels like it, not necessarily with any required regularity. A "serendipitous" finding, to use Cate's (from "Beyond the Fields We Know") word. Not quite the weekend yet, but a good excuse to post another photo from my trip.....



I loved this building in Venice Beach!

:-) Have a lovely weekend, everyone. :-) Joyce

Day Number Two of my life as a blogger.....

Good morning to my tiny little world of readers. Welcome! And thank you for being here..... 'Tis Labor Day here in MA, along with the rest of the country. Cate at "Beyond the Fields we Know" brought to my awareness that the natural "hum" I hear outside my be grasshoppers singing. I am grateful to be made aware of the sound and what it might be and to be given the idea that I might even go out there for a few minutes.....

Happy September and the feeling of a new season it seems to bring, much as we hate to let go the summer, there is something to be said for the fall. It is my goal to continue to display photos of my trip to gorgeous California, and I am still on a learning curve, so bear with me here..... :-) Joyce

This is my brother, Ed, and my niece, Erica, somewhere in beautiful California, Venice Beach, perhaps. How sweet it was!

Success!

Oooh! Success! Don't know if I'll ever be able to do that again, so enjoy!!!!!

Fran at Redondowriter has encouraged me to start a blog.....

I truly wonder about my ability to blog and others' potential interests in anything I might have to say. Most of all, I suppose, I worry that I might not have anything to say. None of the above worries are anything like out of character for me. In fact, I marvel at how consistent "character" can be and is over time, doggedly pursuing us despite our best efforts! I, like many others in my age group (over 55!) am not particularly adept in working with the technical aspects of all this, but I am intrigued enough to give it a try, at least on this particular lazy day in the middle of Labor Day weekend, 2008. Among my challenges in considering this pursuit are how to attach pictures, but let me try. Perhaps something from my recent train trip from MA to CA and back would be appropriate. I might have enough pics from the trip to last until next year, when I would dearly love to make the trip again. Welcome to my first blog entry. Joyce

No luck at posting a photo. Let me see if I can at least publish this.....