Scattered Thoughts . . .

Yesterday, we surprised the grandchildren with their first journey on Amtrak!  I'm completely worn out today so I'm only going to share a few photos and write a short preview of our day... Lukey and Kenzie have been itching for a train ride for years (especially on Amtrak) so we finally arranged schedules with Liza, Nan and Pop and threw together a trip on Amtrak so Lukey and Kenzie could finally get to experience a day trip on Amtrak. The kids didn't know anything about this trip until shortly before getting in the car to head to the train station so it was a complete surprise for them. By the time Nan and Pop arrived at the station to join us, both Kenzie and Lukey were very excited about this much anticipated journey. The plan was to board Amtrak in Waterbury heading south... find a place to stop to have lunch... then hop on the northbound Amtrak to head back to Waterbury.  We knew we would need a three to four hour layover to have time for lunch and unforeseen

Today, in just a couple of hours, we will be taking the grandchildren on another new adventure!  We've had this trip planned for months but we've been keeping it a secret from the kids.  Funny thing is, I had heard through the grapevine that Kenzie and Lukey were asking about this weekend just the other night... Kenzie wants to go to 'The Christmas Loft' and out to lunch and Lukey asked to go to Disney. Liza told them they couldn't go to the Christmas Loft nor Disney this weekend but that they might be able to go out to lunch and left it at that. Then, Lukey asked if they could visit the train station this weekend since they didn't get to stop there earlier in the week...  Actually, we are taking the kids on their first Amtrak trip so they will be visiting the train station... and there, they will be surprised by Gee and Papa and Nan and Pop! We'll be getting on Amtrak's 'Vermonter' this morning, heading south... having some lunch and wal

Walking toward the waterfront... After visiting the cemetery Saturday morning, we headed to Burlington. Our plan was to visit the waterfront... walk around a bit... shoot some photos... then head up to Church Street for some lunch and a few drinks... then maybe shoot some additional photos down at the waterfront and in downtown Burlington.  We had lunch at Ri Ra's, as usual. We each had a Kilcooley sandwich... some chips... and some roasted brussel sprouts. Needless to say, this meal was delicious, as always.  Unfortunately, while we were in Ri Ra's the weather had changed drastically! Very  dark, ominous clouds rolled in producing heavy rain, lightning and thunder.  There was a brief reprieve in the rain so we made our way for outdoors again. More dark clouds and rain were approaching from the Adirondack Mountains across the lake so we headed into Macy's for shelter...  just in time! Then the skies opened up again. Macy's turned out to be a great place to se

Today I needed to search the house for things to eat for lunch... I'm not in much of a mood to wander out into our lousy weather today...  I knew we had some Hebrew National hot dogs in the fridge but I didn't want a plain old typical boring hot dog. I needed to come up with something more interesting. While searching the fridge, I started collecting ingredients that would work for a hot dog. I started with some bacon... I added some horseradish sauce to each of the buns then placed a crisp slice of bacon onto each bun... and I sliced up a couple of dill pickle spears to add on top of the hot dogs. After I fried some shoestring fries in oil, I added two of the hot dogs to the oil and fried them until crisp (the only way to truly cook a hot dog)... then finished topping these hot dogs with the dill pickle slices. After my first bite, I added more horseradish sauce to the top of each hot dog.  This improvised hot dog was very good but, in hindsight, if I had a tomato and so

After our journey to Burlington International Airport with the grandchildren, our stomachs were grumbling so we took the kids out to lunch at 'The Windjammer'. As always, our food was delicious and even the kids enjoyed their meals!   (...which is sometimes hard to do at a restaurant.) These two toddlers were very well behaved and were all smiles the entire time which made it a carefree lunch. Actually, these two kids are almost always all smiles so this lunch meal was no different than any other time.   Anyway, as you can see in the photos, the kids enjoyed lunch! In the interest of working on Lukey's fine motor skills, I played a little game with him trying to get the crayons to stand on end. He persevered and succeeded. Lukey was pretty happy with himself to get all the crayons standing on end... We couldn't convince Kenzie that this blue cloth was a linen napkin and not some sort of kerchief... A porthole mirror... ...a phone call from

Whenever I have a rough night because of my health, the following day is always a quiet down day. On these down days and perhaps needless to say, I crave some comfort food... Today, my comfort food was some country fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy for lunch. It was delicious but I ate more than my not-so-healthy stomach can handle right now. Nevertheless, it was quite satisfying and delicious!  

After my usual morning physical therapy and exercise session this morning, I was ready for lunch... well... I was in the mood for brunch today rather than my usual dinner-like lunch.  For those who don't know, lunch is typically my big meal of the day. Since I wasn't in the mood for my usual heavy dinner-like lunch, I looked for something else to make today... So, I chose to make some hash browns, hickory smoked bacon, french toast and coffee. That really hit the spot! Now, let me get back to my coffee...