Hey everybody! I’m here and so ready to be done with 2020. I just wanted to wish all of you a safe and happy new year! I hope to be back more in 2021 (c) Finding Radiance - Read entire story here. … [Read more...]

I’m still here. My garden has been exploding and I’ve enjoyed puttering around it. It’s a nice distraction from covid. I am so concerned about the pandemic and it’s trajectory – NY had such a hellish period that I can’t believe other states aren’t taking it seriously enough. Just wear a mask, people, please. Or a face shield. Just something as we all need to do our part. Anyway, It’s been … [Read more...]

Instead of What’s Blooming, I’m posting a reno project! One of the more difficult parts of the bathroom remodel was replacing the bathtub and surround. The old surround was fiberglass and the tub was obviously part of the whole kit. The tub stopper was broken and the surface of the tub had a bubble and crack in it, which at some point would probably cause leaking. Anyway, time to go. We removed the bits of drywall that were … [Read more...]

We finally had our long awaited vacation! We spent 5 days in New Orleans. It wasn’t super warm, but a lot warmer than upstate NY! You do forget that temps in the 50s sounds way warmer than it really is when you are in the middle of January in the North Country LOL. The nights were cooler and temps around 60 or so. We stayed at Place D’Armes, where we have stayed a few times. It’s really right in the heart of the French … [Read more...]

We have been to New Orleans 5 or 6 times. I can’t remember LOL – but we have never visited the botanical garden. Part of it was not knowing it existed earlier, but also not thinking about gardens in January. Things actually bloom in the south during winter, who knew? Our day started with a couple of pastries at Croissant D’Or: This is a nice cozy place. We went here twice, actually. We knew the gardens would … [Read more...]

On one of our vacation days, John wanted to hit up Harrah’s casino, which left me to my own devices in New Orleans. Not far from the casino was a newly renovated building called Sazerac House. The building itself is from around 1800 and the Sazerac company purchased it a couple of years ago to become a centerpiece of their business. Sazerac is a rye distiller first and foremost, although they do rum, Southern Comfort along with a … [Read more...]

Hey – it’s time for What’s Blooming again! Something nice to talk about other than coronavirus, right? A few plants are peeping out. It’s been fun going out and seeing what survived the winter, which appears to be almost everything. I lost a couple baby plants to frost heave and there are a few that won’t wake up for a few more weeks, but looking good so far. The birds have been going crazy as well. It’s … [Read more...]

Here are just some miscellaneous musing on New Orleans. This was our first trip to New Orleans since John went full vegetarian. The last time we came he was still eating seafood, but no land meat. That did present some challenges because a lot of the cuisine here is meat based. Many restaurants only had a token black bean burger, which didn’t interest him. However, we did find some interesting places. And there is a growing number of … [Read more...]

It feels like we are in suspended animation here in NY. We have pretty strict measures in place and hopefully that will help, but it seems like it wasn’t quite enough. Here upstate there are cases in our hospital and one nurse has tested positive. When I had my hysterectomy last year, my nurses were so great and I worry for them. Testing in our area is only available now for health care workers or those admitted to the hospital. They only … [Read more...]

These are certainly strange times. As of today, NY shot up to the most Covid cases in the country with over 900 statewide, and of course that number is going to grow with more testing coming on board. Governor Cuomo gave a stark warning today that he did not think we were going to flatten the curve enough to not overwhelm our medical system. Schools are closed. All restaurants and bars must either close or go to take out/pick up only and … [Read more...]

Long post coming. We got started on the bathroom a couple of weeks ago. As a refresher, 5 years ago when we bought the house, we had the Jar Jar Binks bathroom It was a hideous mish mash of wallpaper. . The giant mirror along two walls plus that bizarre cubby space which had no purpose: Someone actually wanted this look, too. We did a minor update on it with wallpaper removal (shudder at the memory) and paint, … [Read more...]

Yay – My favorite posts of the year are back. If anyone is still here reading LOL. April didn’t have any big snowstorms and weather was okay this year. We actually got in a decent amount of biking, unlike last year where I don’t think we were able to get out at all in April. Anyway, things are popping up and becoming green in the garden beds: It doesn’t appear that I lost much over the winter this year. There … [Read more...]