A day to remember

While on our vacation in the Bahama's, we stayed at the Atlantis. What a gorgeous resort. My Daughter and I was very fortunate to have a day together. This day was a very memorable one for the two of us. We didn't know if my daughter (Jen) was going to be able to do this out of fear. To start out they suit you up. Believe me when I say it...those suits are very unforgiving, and are the most uncomfortable thing I have ever put on. I think the embarrassment of putting this skin tight suit on, was a help to forget some of the fear of the dolphin.LOL

Before we went to the waters, we watched a movie and had a small lecture about these beautiful mammals. These are bottlenose dolphins...Just like flipper. Our Dolphins name was Hercules. Which certainly didn't help Jens fear what so ever. And the fact that have 105 or so teeth. Hercules was a gentle giant. They lined us up like soldiers. Then we had to kneel down.

The water was the perfect temperature for both mammal and human. The water was very shallow and dropped off very quickly. The dolphins needed some deep water to show off their talent. And talent they have. I can not believe how talented these incredible mammals are. There are 16 dolphins at Dolphin Cay that were rescued from Hurricane Katrina. And I am happy to report that they are doing great.

They took us one at a time to meet Hercules. They picked me first..I guess they saw the excitement in me. My husband was near the beach taking photos. When I had the chance to look at the photos, you can see my daughter praying for her mothers safe return. LOL...

There was a professional photographer in the water taking photos. My Daughter wouldn't go by herself, but she did want her picture taken so I went with her. I got to kiss Hercules, and he tasted very salty. And they feel like rubber. They shed their skin about every hour or so.

I was so proud of Jen for being able to dig deep for some courage to be able to experience this wonderful adventure. The dolphins were so happy to perform for us, and it was very exciting to watch them show their talents.

I will always forever remember this day. I know I will return to the Atlantis many more times. My Darlin Husband is already looking for another trip....soon.

Kindredly,

Ellen

Winter Solstice

From Pink Saturday to White Sunday. It has been winter wonderland around here since yesterday afternoon. I even lost power for 3 hours this morning. It sure did get chilly in the house fast. My DH and DD worked together cleaning the cars and driveway.

I wish a pair of red cardinals would show up at the bird feeder. I just love when Mr. & Mrs. Red are showing off their color against the white of the landscape. The flower beds are covered with just a few dried flowers lingering around.

And oh how lonely this table and chair is. It was so full of life all summer long, with laughter as we wined and or dined there. I long for the days of late sunsets and dinner on the deck.

But there is nothing prettier than evergreens with their blanket of white.

It not only looks like winter...it actually is. I won't have to dream of a white Christmas.

Happy Holidays,

Ellen

Pink Saturday

Oh it's so nice to be back to blogging.

Last year in December I had an accident and slipped on the ice in my drive way. I had to have surgery on Christmas Eve. I also had to endure many months of going to physical therapy. Nancy was my therapist, and she was not only a great therapist but also a wonderful person, whom I had gotten to know.

She knew that I loved to craft, and was working so hard to get my wrist as close to normal as possible. So I thought I would craft something for her to say thank you. It seemed like every time I went to her, someone had taken her pen. So I painted this pot and decorated some flowers for her . She was so happy and loved it. I also painted one for myself to have next to my computer.

I'm sure there is a list of wonderful sites at Beverly's that will connect you to some beautiful pink. I know my world is full of white right now, so lots of pink sounds wonderful.

Thank you Beverly for hosting this again.

Enjoy!
Ellen

Award

Thanks to Carrie at Oak Rise Cottage for sending me an award. I just got home from vacation, only to find no power at home. When I get things up and running I will pass this award along. I will also post some pictures of the beautiful Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. I hope those that had bad weather, have all recovered. Ellen

Count down really begins

Oh my how exciting...one week from today at this time I will be in sunshine warmth of the Bahamas. As a family Christmas present we will be in the Bahamas for 4nights,5days. We will be staying at the Atlantis. I am rather exciting in hope to go this year. The family had to go without me last year due to a broken wrist. But this year I will be basking away. We have tickets to see the Jonas brothers and also tickets to swim with the dolphins. I wanted to swim with the dolphins so bad last year. This year we were able to get free tickets, so my daughter Jenn and I will be loving them up. We'll see, Jen is afraid of EVERYTHING. She said no to the dolphin experience but after horseback riding this fall, she's ready to conquer the world. This will be her third year in a row at the Atlantis in December.

I feel blessed to have this

Yesterday afternoon my sister and I took a trip to Sturbridge MA. It is about a half hour drive, and it's our favorite thing to do together. Although we have a favorite place to eat there, we didn't go. We did go to Susan's secret garden and then we went to Old Sturbridge Village gift shop. Luckily the gift shop is in the front so you don't have to pay to go into the village. My sister was feeling like some of their delicious fudge. It is buy 2 get 1 free, and soooo good.

I was walking around Susan's beautiful shop, when in the corner she had some Old Victorian jewelery. I seen this beautiful multi-colored sweater pin and fell in love with it. It had the colors of my family birthstones, pink, blue and green. It's hard taking good pics of jewelery but I got what I could so I could show it off. When I went to the counter, Susan told me the pin had belonged to a woman who lived to be 100 years old. How special is that. I knew that pin called me for a reason. I will treasure that pin and hope that my daughter will also and pass it down. I usually don't get blessed when I shop, but I certainly did yesterday. Thank you Susan I will treasure it.

I also bought a bracelet with black stones. It will be a nice addition to my black pieces.

My sister bought a beautiful purple teapot, if you would love to see some of Susan's teapots and other wonderful goodies at Susan's just click on her name or the link on my blog to her shop. You will be in for a treat if you do. Wishing you a warm splendid Sunday evening.

Blog bloopers

I have two bloopers on my blog. The first one is on my Pink Saturday, I was referring to lasts weeks Pink Saturday when I said I commented on most. I haven't had the time until tonight to even log on this lovely magic box. I am so sorry for the confusion.

The other blooper is on my Susan Secret Garden Link. I was very fortunate to go to Susans secret garden today. Susan is in the process of having her web page redone and is now using the new web page, I did put the new web address on the button to her web page.. Susan not only has a beautiful shop, but she is one beautiful lady. She does a lot for the community, and is so helpful and thoughtful. She is very special. She told me today that you can't order on her site, but you can order by telephone. I had a really nice find there today, and its so special that it needs a post of its own, with photo. I really want to check out some pink posts tonight, if I get time tomorrow I will post my "lucky one of a kind find"....so do check back....Kindredly, Ellen

Pink Victorian Lady and Tree

How nice that Saturday has rolled around again. I didn't think I would get through all the post but I did. I commented on almost all of them. There was a couple that I might have tried to see to early. I just went down the list as they were on Beverly's page. If you want to see some awesome blossom pinks then click on Beverly's name or on her click able pink graphic on my page. Thank you Beverly for hosting this. I met so many wonderful new friends.

I have the most giving neighbor..Pearl who made something very special for me. She took a long time crocheting me this beautiful pink Victorian dress, and accessories. I know how hard it is to work with such fine thread. I was very blessed to have her as a neighbor. I lived here for about 10 years before I really got to know her, as she worked many jobs. I new her beloved husband very well, as he never worked the whole time I knew him and he was always outdoors. Pearl is much older than I am, and not in the best health. I will always treasure this doll. And how fitting that I found a photo taken a while back that has the Victorian tree she made me as well. All those little ornaments. She really is one special friend.

Kindredly,Ellen

Left overs

It's the day after Thanksgiving and there is nothing better than leftovers. I hope everyone had a wonderful day. I was very fortunate to be able to spend the day with family and a wonderful elderly friend. My sister was the hostess with the mostess....thank you Shirley everything was so good. Unfortunately we didn't take any photos which is unusual. I do believe my daughter might have taken a few with her cell phone.

Being a New Englander I wanted to do a good old fashioned New England blog post. But the holiday had me so busy that I never had the time that it would have taken. So I decided to go with the leftovers and run with it.

I had gone to Old Sturbridge Village this past October. It was such a wonderfully warm fall day. I was going to write about it but now I need to get ready for Pink Saturday, that I gathered a few pictures from the day we spent at Old Sturbridge Village and put in a slideshow. I hope you enjoy them, as I really did have such a wonderful day. Blessings, Ellen

Pink

Well here we are already two hours into Sunday, and I am still celebrating Pink Saturday. I am trying to get thru all the postings.There is no way I could do it all today. If I haven't posted your pink post, it means I just haven't gotten to it yet. It has been so much fun. I need to go back and visit your blogs, as I just had time to read the pink and maybe peek at your blog. I'm off to LA LA Land...

My First Pink Saturday

Thank you to Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday, please check out the other pink postings by either clicking Beverly's name or her graphic on my blog page. Thank you Beverly this will be my first Pink Saturday posting. I thought seeing that it was so close to Christmas, that I would share a few of my favorite pink Christmas decorations. I hope you like them.My sister Charlotte bought me this Victorian Santa for Christmas one year. I decorated the sleigh with Pink peonies to match the pinks in Santa's coat. I just love this when it's filled with wrapped gifts and sits under the tree. I do believe the title pic on blog is taken from under the tree.
One year I had made a lot of these scones. I filled them with candy and gave them away. Well of course I had to make some for myself. I place them on doorknobs of the doors that don't get used much. The Pink trimmed was made with some Christmas wrap. They were a lot of fun to make and even more fun to give away.

This Pink teapot is a gift from a special Internet friend that loves pink . Her home is pink from the inside out. The pink stocking here is also from her.

As an October baby, that makes my birthstone non other than PINK and my daughter in August gives us those two colors that go so well together...Pink and green. These birthstone ornaments were a Christmas gift from my sister Shirley.

Here we have some homemade PINK ornaments.

Of course we always need a couple Pink angelic children. These are nieces from left to right....Alexis, Kately and Yvonne. They definitely are pretty in Pink.

I hope you enjoyed my first Pink Saturday posting. Don't forget to check the other pink postings. Beverly has a listing of those that are sharing their pinks. This was soooo much fun, and again thank you Beverly.

Ellen who is dreaming of a pink christmas.

how they do twinkle

Taken from The Night Before Christmas...

His eyes how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.

As I was going thru some photos, I came across these photos taken in the 70's. They are of my Dear Husband playing Santa for his younger siblings and nieces and nephews. Well O.k. maybe a few grown-ups also. As you can see he had those eyes that twinkled. In all honesty it was those twinkling blue eyes that attracted me to him. He may have lost most of his Christmas spirit, but those baby blues still twinkle.

He had taken many years off of playing Santa...but he did do a recent apperance.

Paul & Jacob

And like father like son blue eyes and all...

Jeff & Jacob Jen & Jeff

Time to re-commit

Well it wasn't easy climbing out of that warm bed this morning. Hubby called on his coffee break and suggested I go off to curves this morning. I have been talking about going back, but that is about all I have been doing...talking and paying, and paying and talking. I have two awesome vacations coming up, and I don't think I will get to my desired weight...especially if I just sit at home talking and paying. I do enjoy not only the exercise, but the wonderful ladies that I have met. So I packed the water bottle, sneakers and out the door. Oh my there was frost on the windows....should I tuff it out and continue on, or should I wimp out and head back in the warm house. Well, I guess I got that far that I continued on. When I got there and walked in I received such a great welcome. Now if I can just stick to a good sound nutritional diet I will be doing something. I also think I will turn on my Leslie Sansone walking DVD and do the three fast miles. I just love her DVDs. I won't be much slimmer but maybe firmer by the first vacation, but there is still some ope for the one in February. These pics I am attaching was a couple years ago. My sister and Daughter join me, but they totally fell by the waist side. Stay warm. :)Ellen

New things

Yesterday I had a wonderful day shopping with my Dear Sweet Sister Shirley. I was housebound until noontime, and after that we were off to the MAll. I had bought a silver christmas tree and wreath this year and I bought some new decorations. The tree and wreath I had bought at our favorite store in Sturbridge. Susan Secret Gardens. Check her store out as she has beautiful things. http://www.susanssecretgarden.com/. I know you won't be disappointed. The angel centerpiece for my table...I just bought a new dinning room set and wanted a nice new christmas piece. And this lovely girl was calling my name. I wanted pink but I have a dark mauve in the dinning room, so thought this one went well. The silver wreath I decided to decorate all silver. I found these beautiful glass ball ornaments that I new would look great. And of course I had to add a silver ribbon bow. The wreath is hanging in the dinning room behind the table. I just love when the daylight shines and it twinkles so lovely. Oh I just love Christmas. The fairy was just the right size to top my tree. She just flowed so nicely with her beaded dress, as I have all beaded balls on that tree. Now to start dragging out the other decorations. I missed out last year as I fell and broke my wrist. I have a lot to make up.