61st birthday 2012

 My Birthday Cake.

Had a great 61st Birthday with Beth and the pack! Lots of present and the cake was yummy!

New Christmas Lights for 2013 display.

Beth hit the after Christmas sales at Home Depot and found these additions to our 2013 Christmas display for my Birthday. What a wife, lol!!!

Christmas 2012

Gram's Tree

Beth looking good.

 Pete carving the roast beef.

 Marco waiting for his dinner!

 Gram's new cloths.

 Iron Man!

 Maddy at the dessert table.

Joe and Gab play video games.

Optique Atlanta 2

 

During my down time with CVS I helped Beth's sister's husband set up his second location of Optique Atlanta! In one week we went from four walls and a floor to a store ready to open.

It was great fun. Good luck Pete.

Clove Tree Lane Christmas Lights

 Our house.

 Dawn and Brad's house.

 Sam's house.

 Stephanie and Steve's house.

John's house.

Optique Christmas Party 2012

 No Mas Cantina

The staff of Optique gathered for their annual Christmas party at No Maus Cantina in Atlanta this year. Beth and I had an enjoyable evening of good food and friends.

For more visit: Optique Atlanta and No Mas Cantina

Homemade Cooking

Homemade Chilly

 Homemade Corn Bread

Homemade Rice Pudding

Yesterday was a cold rainy day so I spent it in the kitchen making some cold weather treats.

New Christmas Tree Ornament.

Found this cute Christmas Tree ornament at CVS yesterday and hung it with care!

Watching TV!

Marco and Eve enjoying an afternoon of watching "The Big Red Dog"!

Christmas decorations 2012

 Lighted front planter display.

 New lighted Santa, gift boxes, candy canes and snow flakes under the front yard tree.

 Added new net lights on the bushes and candy canes to the front porch lights.

Looking from across the street.

Doggy Rescue!

 A bucket of puppies on their way to have their shots!

Do you see all the hopes in the world in those eyes?

Titan's and his broken leg.

A co-worker of mine and his wife are very active in animal rescue is Louisville KY. 

The picture of the puppies on their way to have their shots is priceless, lol! Look at those faces and eyes!

Titan was rescues with fleas and a broken leg. Poor liitle baby boy. 

Thanks Kevin and Wife for your kindness, love and all you efforts caring for and finding homes for all these four legged family members.

"Dogs Rule"

Monument Square, Portland Maine.

 Looking east. Loved the white lights in the trees.

Looking west along the restaurants to the left and the Christmas Tree on the right. Wish I had more time to explore as it looked like a great place to window shop and have dinner. 

Monument Square Christmas Tree

I missed the tree lighting by one day but it looks beautiful with all its lights in the middle of Monument Square, Portland Maine.

Civil War Monument, Portland, Maine

Had a chance to visiting downtown Portland Maine early yesterday evening and got some great photos and learned a bit of history of the area.

The Civil War Memorial in Portland, Maine is a large complex monument in the center of the city. It is also known as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Civil War Monument, Our Lady of Victories, and the Victory Monument. It contains a central allegorical female figure standing on a square granite base with additional sculpture groups on the north and south sides of the base. The figures were sculpted by Franklin Simmons, the architect for the monument was Richard Morris Hunt, and the sculptures were cast at the Fonderia Nelli, foundry. The monument is 45' high and the base is 20.5' on a side. it was dedicated on October 28, 1891.

Portland ME Observatory.

Visiting Portland Maine this week for the first time. What a beautiful place.

Captain Lemuel Moody (1768-1846), ordered construction of this octagonal, 86-foot high tower to serve as a communication station for Portland’s bustling harbor. In 1807, ships entering the harbor could not be seen from the docks of Portland until they rounded the point of land at Spring Point Ledge. With his powerful telescope, sea captain-turned-entrepreneur Moody identified incoming vessels as far away as 30 miles. For a fee, he alerted subscribing merchants by hoisting signal flags identifying their vessels. He coined the phrase “signalizing” to describe his system.

The Observatory was built on Munjoy Hill at the eastern end of the Portland peninsula, which was a cow pasture at the time. Moody built his house and other buildings near the tower. The complex included a banquet and dance hall as well as a bowling alley. From the time it opened in 1807, the Observatory was a tourist attraction drawing local residents and travelers alike.

Joesph Thanksgiving Visit

My nephew Joesph visited from Asheville, NC where he works at Make Noise makers of electronic synthesizer.

To see him on YouTube visit: Make Noise

Thanksgiving 2012

 Chocolate Trifle.

 Turkey, turkey and more turkey!

Gram's beautiful table ready for our Thanksgiving feast.

Finally Finished

Thanks to some really beautiful weather this week I was able to finally finish the painting of the deck boards. As you can see my helper seems pleased!

In full bloom.

Our final Tea Rose of the season was fully open on the kitchen counter this morning. It looks and smells wonderful. This could have been a show winner thanks to coffee grounds, Epson Salts and Bayer Rose Food!
Been reading up on rose pruning to assure good growth in the spring. I have also order a Henry Fonda Dark Yellow Hybrid Tea Rose and  White Pope John Paul 11 Hybrid Tea Rose for spring planting from Jackson and Perkins.

For more visit: Jackson and Perkins

Fall Rose

Arrived home to find the final Tea Rose blooming in the side yard.

Best year for Roses ever!