Patrick's fireworks!

My nephew, Patrick, loves his fireworks! He put on a nice show on the 4th of July for a few of his family and friends.

Patrick (age 13 and then age 20) with his beloved fireworks.

The grand finale!!! Thanks, Pat-good show!!!

Photo journaling (and a video!)

Some photos from the last few weeks and a video!

~~~~~~Some corners~~~~~~

My neighbor gave me a bunch of thread!

I finally did some cleaning up-this place was a pig sty!

Another cleaned up corner

Thank goodness for wildflowers 'cause I didn't plant any tame ones!  

~~~~~My daughter's cat~~~~~

Mr. Puss-enjoying the beautiful day

Mr. Puss-enjoying...ummmmmm???

Look at what we got at Trader Joe's!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are some other good things from Trader Joe's!  (Mary, I took your advice and bought some scones-delicious!)

A rose in the woods-at least I think it was a rose.  It smelled like a rose-I know because I stopped and smelled it!

A flag in a cemetary on the 4th of July

One of the frogs in my sister's pool.  I love listening to them.

Handsome Rocco looking out the glass sliding door.

The beautiful city of Pittsburgh-view from atop Mount Washington.  My daughter's been wanting to take me there, and she did the other night.

And finally, Buddy walks again!!!  (In case you didn't know-Buddy is my parents' dog and his hind legs were paralyzed from an accident he had just running around the yard.  He had spinal surgery a few weeks ago.)  He started taking a few steps on Father's Day-what a great gift for my dad.  This video was taken on June 20th.  He's still wobbly, but seems to be getting stronger every day.  Yay!

Have a great weekend everybody!

A little trip to Erie

I did something quite unusual for me-I went somewhere!  My sister-Jodie, niece-Jess, Jess's friend, my friend-Jessie and I, went to Erie, PA (about two and a half hours from home) last week and stayed two nights.  Below are a few pictures from our little trip.

A sailboat on the lake.

A cute, little lighthouse on Lake Erie.

I took this pic when we went on a boat tour around the lake. The tour was about an hour and a half long and very relaxing.  To me, well worth the16 bucks that it cost!

 (I learned an easy way to remember the Great Lakes thanks to Jessie and the tour guide guy.  Think HOMES-Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior.  There's your geography lesson for the day!)

We went to the beach for a little while.

Lake Erie

A heron in Presque Isle State Park. (Presque Isle is French and is translated to 'almost island' in English.  It was named that because, well-it's almost an island.  I learned that from the boat tour too!) 

Jess and Darian are somewhere on there-at Waldameer Park.

Beach blanket in action-I made this one for Jodie.

This is Jessie's beach blanket that she made herself.  I love the prints in this one.

Here's the gang-Jess, Jodie, Me, Jessie, and Darian.

What we did, so I can remember:  Monday-the beach, boat tour, and dinner at a hibachi grill-that was cool!  Tuesday-Waldameer Park, dinner at Cracker Barrel, dessert at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, swimming in hotel pool.  Wednesday-we rode a surrey (think a four seat/four wheel pedal bike), ate at Chick-fil-A, then home.  It was a lot of fun, but good to get home too!