Jim and I have a vacation budget of $600, my earnings from taking the minutes at the community meeting. On account of spending money buying our house, we haven't had a vacation in two and a half years. We took a staycation last year and did day trips and went up to the cabin for a few days, but no away vacations since we went to Lancaster in April ( Read more... )

Another vacation on the cheap! We took a one-night getaway to Vermont two weeks ago. Here's the breakdown: We went up Sunday morning to the Shelburne Museum. I'd won 4 adult admission tickets in an online auction for $39. Value: $22/each, total value $88. Each ticket is good for 2-days admission, so we only had to use two of the tickets. We still ( Read more... )

Anyone who tends a garden knows well Ecclesiastes 3:1, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” As gardeners we arrange our lives around the seasons and each season has a different purpose ( Read more... )

Sometimes I ask myself what my next move is in terms of volunteer work. I wonder about volunteering for a historical organization or site. What would that be like? SO genteel! So different. But I love the idea. I was on the board of Animalkind for five years. I was looking for a change and started volunteering with Hospice. That's been nearly five ( Read more... )

We hit the road Thursday just after 7am. We do not sleep in even on vacation! We went down via the Delaware Water Gap to avoid some traffic and get off the thruway a bit. We stopped for a bit to stretch our legs in the park and arrived at the Martin Guitar factory JUST in time for the tour. It was very interesting. Jim had a great time. We had a ( Read more... )

Adria and I found each other in the chaos of high school, both of us misfits. Together we weathered a lot of small-town teenage storms. We were inseparable ( Read more... )

For New Year's we took another bargain basement vacation to Vermont. We drove up on Monday, the day before New Year's Eve. We ate lunch, which I had packed, along the way up. Savings: $15. We stopped at the Champlain Discount store and dropped about $120 on scratch/dent/expired groceries. We stopped at a brewery for a tasting and a winery for a ( Read more... )

Ali is dying and I don't know how to grieve. Grief catches me off-guard with its cunning ways. Fixing breakfast and tears run down my face. Getting dressed and I'm kneeling on the floor, sobbing. In the eyes of the world Ali is "just a cat" so I cannot show grief publicly but I also can't hide my sadness. Why am I wiping my eyes at the gym or why ( Read more... )

I've been meaning to blog about our Vermont vacation for some time now. We left on Sunday morning, not too early, and headed up to Glens Falls to ski at a fantastic free ski area called Coles Woods. So beautiful - groomed trails, about an hour's worth, and just fabulous skiing. After a lunch of PB&J in the car that I'd packed from home we went on ( Read more... )

I do not make friends easily. But I had a true friend in Shirley. People always asked if she was my mom when we went out or upon seeing us together in the nursing home. The answer was that we were "just friends" always. But "just" never felt like the right word ( Read more... )