Photo-a-Day 2009

My other blog..if you wish...

I am partaking in another Photo Hunt this year...you can see my pictures by clicking HERE

Darrly & Pamela Pantyhose take on the world....again

Just to let you know we will be leaving for the big adventure in a few of days (YIPPEE)...please follow us along on our adventures....

http://stampingandscrappin.typepad.com/blog/

By the way...we travel incognito...blame my hubby's crazy sense of humor

Please leave comments, we will be so happy to hear from our friends and family..

Sue (aka Pamela)

An Amazing Day

So tomorrow is a HUGE day for this little family. Tomorrow  my wonderful husband turns 60. Hard to believe. He is so young at heart and makes me happier every day I know him.

Tomorrow my youngest son gets married. Mike, we love you and adore your wonderful new , soon to be, wife Christina (aka Teeny)
Teeny we are so happy to have you join our family..you fit us like a glove and we love you so much.

I feel so so blessed. Tomorrow is going to be a perfect day. :-)

On another note. Richard and I are going to be going away for a long awaited vacation next week. The trip of a life time really. We will be going to Hamburg to visit the family I was a nanny for about 35 years ago!! Then we will travel on to Turkey. Spending a week in Istanbul, taking in a U2 concert (the instigator of the whole trip), and then traveling around the country for a couple of weeks. We will return about the 21st of September rested and ready to take on the world again.

Thanks John and pat for staying at the house and looking after the Pup and the Fish and the Tomatoes...

It has been both a wonderful and a hard year for us as a family.
 Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day and the start of many amazing adventures to come...

Happy Birthday Rich, I love you so much.

Happy Lifetime Together Mike and Teeny...we wish as much happiness as we have.

IT Finally Bloomed!!!

About 10 years ago we bought two bulbs from a fancy garden center..they carry weird and wonderful things..one of them bloomed the next year...it was ENORMOUS..and it bloomed for about 5 years...and then we lost it. The other one we planted in the front garden and it has struggled for years to mature...it never quite made it to blooming level...until this year!!!

Check it out!!

Did I mention it is a carnivorous plant??? Thats meals-on-wings arriving

It has the prettiest ruffles...

and I am thinking that perhaps it was not the best idea to place it near the front door...because you all know what attracts fly's (aka it's dinner)...rotten meat...yes ...that's what I said...it smells like rotten meat  DOH!

 

that bulb part in the picture below is where the fly's get caught and then the juices from the plant eat them up...LOL
 

Maybe next year it will be as big as my other one was...the tip of the spike was about 10 feet tall..this one is about 6 feet in total.

and no..the name has long been forgotten...I'll try to find it out for you. They certainly are fun to grow!!

Thrifting..

I love to see what people do with their bargain they find at garage sales and on Craig's list etc and so I follow lots of bloggers who decorate their homes with 'found" or cheap furniture that the refinish or  fix up and change in some way. So I am going to try and give it a whirl.

My first item is actually two ... I bought these for a song at TJMaxx when I was down in the states recently. They are solid wood I think

They are quite large and I thought about leaving them as is but I want to paint them white and then distress/antique them with stain. Wish me luck! I could also paint them black...or pick up the green in the linens in the room....so many choices...

They are going to go over the twin beds in one of the guest bedrooms. The beds don't have headboards and I just want to put something pretty on the walls. I am leaning towards white...what do you think?

I'll be back soon to show you the results...wish me luck!!!

So Proud..and so scared..and a request

I just finished Skyping with my nephew Teagan.

He is my sister's only son, only child, and tomorrow morning he is leaving for Afghanistan. It's hard to fathom the day has finally come. I think we keep telling ourselves that it is a long way off..but somehow the day we fear always arrives no matter how we try to delay the inevitable.

Speaking to him on Skype I could see he is going through a lot of emotions. His two little girls were all over him and he kept touching their hair. He LOVES being a soldier, he has found his passion in life but leaving behind his young family is not easy at all.

He and Amber recently got married...

They are so young and so in love...please keep him in your prayers and we will see him for Christmas :-)

Teagie, we are so very proud of you. Keep your head down and come home safe OK? We love you.

The request..

I know my sister Jean, and her hubby Zbysko, and Teagan's wife Amber are going to be going through a really tough time in the next little while. If you could...I know they would be so thrilled to receive some cards of encouragement. So if you can send them a note please e-mail me and I will give you their address. I think this first little while is going to be very hard for them.

You can e-mail me at [email protected]. Thanks :-)

Photohunt Challenge

I have not participated in the challenges over at Photohunt so today when I saw the topic was Addiction I knoew that I had a suitable photo already...my guilty addiction

Lattes...mmm

Hoppy Easter...

It feels like I have been busy since the start of the year. I keep thinking things will slow down and then my calendar fills up again. However..I might be able to have some fun now..and blog  a little bit about the goings on in my life...of course I am still working on my taxes...DOH!

Easter is this weekend (Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate). I host an Easter Egg Hunt every year for my nieces and nephew and my friends kids. We have a brunch for about 20-30 people by the time all is said and done..and of course hunt chocolate goodies in the garden

It was supposed to rain today..60% chance of rain ...then the wind started yesterday and I dared to hope it would maybe blow the rain clouds away...then the wind REALLY picked up over night, plunging parts of the city into darkness and trees downed all over...but today the rain stayed away and we had a great time...here are some pictures of the fun...

Bunny

 

Chickie Cupcakes

Easter Bonnets

The hunters and the hunted

 

Group shot..well as best we could with  little "Z" flying around. Love how 'A' on the right is already tucking in...

Now before the hunt began the Easter Bunny had laid out all the treats..he runs this egg hunt like a treasure hunt...with hints for each location. So he had left the same candies at several locations. At one location there was mini Oh Henry Easter candies..and I knew there would be extras and they are my favs so I was happy. We were all inside the house waiting for the kids to arrive when my son walked in and said..look..

WTH??? Can you guess what tore these open and ate them before the guests even arrived??? This happened in about a 10-15 minute period...leave a comment with your guess.

Here are some cute photos of some of the chocolate smeared hunters

yes..that is a scraped nose..and..an egg head....remember I said "Z" moves a lot..she does...and fast too!! Ice was applied and she is fine :-)

and that was Easter....hope you enjoy the rest of your long weekend. I am off to Sydney tomorrow evening...I should have this place cleaned up by then...LOL

New York Meet Up!

Every now and again I get to meet a cyber buddy. I have been following a great blog called Steinway Street written by Abigayl in New York City for over a year. She has lived in the Big Apple for a few years, takes her camera on her daily excursions and shares the greatest little spots in New York City that, as a regular tourist, you may never come across. We have chatted back and forth via our blog comment sections and e-mails. A little while ago she had a little blog candy to share and guess what .. I WON! Check out the cool packaging on those threats. So..to save her some postage I suggested we finally get together to meet while I was on a layover in NYC. She was up for it and so we decided to go to one of my favorite restaurants near our hotel...for Indian Food.

Here we are just after we met..

She is delightful..and as sweet in real life as she seems from her blog. We were joined by one of the pilots and one of the flight attendants from my crew and we laughed so much and had some GREAT food. I am sure Abigayl is still shaking her head about us...LOL

Here are Joelle and Jimmy..they really were having a good time...just hungry and waiting for the food to arrive LOL

We started with my MUST HAVE appetizer...

Bhel Puri which is an assortment of crisp rice and noodles with potatoes, onions and tomatoes with a sweet and tangy sauce. They only serve this in the restaurant and not as take out because it does not travel well at all...it is delicious. I have never seen this on a menu before and I LOVE it..now I am going to have to look more closely in other Indian restaurants!

HERE ia video of how to make one..it seems there are many combinations as it is a street food in India.

We also shared some Vegetable samosas..served with Tamarind sauce and Cilantro sauce

Then the main dishes...Goan Shrimp, Chicken Makhani/Butter Chicken (YUM!!!..just sayin') Keema Mutter(lamb) and Saag Paneer (Spinach)

and what would a great Indian feast be without beautiful freshly baked Naan bread

and beautiful rice

The restaurant does not have a drink license yet but you can bring your own bottle which is great! (We passed as the crew had been partying a wee bit the night before LOL). The restaurant is quite softly lit and there are beautiful lights hanging all over the ceiling..I really really want some fo these for my garden this Summer...

 

Photo credits for most of these go to Abigayl ...she was drooling a little over my new lenses..LOL Wait until that girl gets her next lens...there will be no stopping her!

So if you are in NYC and want some great food try

RUCHI Indian Cuisine, 120 Cedar Street between Greenwich and trinity Place in the Financial District.

212-227-8454/55   www.RuchiNYC.com

I think Abigayl enjoyed it..

on the way home the view from the cockpit was amazing!!!!

and then we were back to what is probably the warmest Winter Olympics ever!! LOL

I think I am going to miss the Olympics!!!

and I had to share this...love it

CLICK HERE to see Tom Brokow explain Canada

Needle Felting

I learned how to do needle felting..these were my first creations LOL..

how to make a pea...

Step one..take some wool roving, and a felting needle (has teeny barbs on the sides and very very sharp)

on a sponge or felting brush..stick the needle through the wool and start creating the shape

keep going until you get the shape you wish..

EASY!

You can follow my photo adventures on my Virtual Photo Walk Challenge for 2010 HERE

Photographic Adventures for 2010

So I have decided to join the 2010 Virtual Photo Walk. This is a monthly photographic challenge  group. I have to post 15 pictures each month from the list posted. You can get the information HERE about it and you can still sign up I believe.

My new Virtual Photographic Walk Blog can be found HERE

I am going to continue with THIS blog as my day to day ramblings blog showing multiple photos etc. The other blog will have just one photo posted for each title at a time.

I would love for you to pop over and visit it and let me know what you think.

The list of subjects for the other blog for January is:

1. Arc
2. Bold
3. Chaos
4. Cold
5. Doors & Windows - DONE
6. Edible - DONE
7. Layers
8. Looking Down - DONE
9. Masculine
10. Meditative
11. Pattern
12. Pink
13. Texture - DONE
14. Trio - DONE
15. Warning

It's something new for me to try. This year I am also setting goals for taking photography classes etc. I really need to get more comfortable with the settings etc on my camera. I want to be shooting in full manual settings by the Summer. Can I do it? I don't know but I sure hope so.

So come back and visit here..and hopefully if you like photos you will visit my other little play space too