T Stands for a Fun Night Out

    Hi everyone. Happy new week to you.  And to everyone who visits over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog   for T Day, happy T day to you.

    Last week we had more spring-like weather in my area. I was even inspired to go get some bags of planting soil, and I'm thinking this or maybe next week I might go buy some seeds and see what I can get to grow.  I won't be planting  outside yet because the nights are still around or below freezing. Things can't be put outside in my area until May for fear of frost. But these warm days have inspired me to start some seeds inside. 🌱 

    I was also able to sit out on my deck in the sun and read a couple of afternoons last week with a fleece on. ❤ They predict another fairly mild week ahead, and maybe by the end of this week all the snow in my yard will actually be gone. Then everything just needs to dry out. Of course,living where I do we could still (and I think probably will) l get a little more snow, but hopefully just a dusting IF it even happens.

    Besides going for a few walks  last week, I also had a fun night out with a couple of friends. We went into downtown Portsmouth (New Hampshire), had dinner, took a walk around, and then went to an evening concert. 

     Here's a few photos from my walk around downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This first one is looking up the street at Market Square at the steeple of the North Church of Portsmouth. This building was originally built in 1657 and then rebuilt  in 1854 from brick. There had been 3 devastating fires in the city  in the early to mid-1800's, so all the new construction was from brick, including the rebuild of North Church.  This building is a local landmark.

    1657 is old for here in the US, but I know not even close to many cathedrals and other buildings elsewhere in the world.  

      Here's a few other photos. I didn't take all that many but these are the better or more interesting ones.

    For dinner we went to a burger bar. I hadn't eaten at this restaurant before, but  I liked how you could build your own burger. You could choose between various meat and veggie burgers, various buns and various toppings. All their burgers came with French fries, but you could upgrade to many other choices. I chose a very traditional beef burger with cheddar cheese on a brioche bun as well as upgrading to sweet potato fries. 

And I had water to drink.

    We ended the evening going to see a great concert at the local historic theater. This theater was built in 1878, and like the church, was built when the old theater burnt to the ground the year before. It is the oldest operating theater in New Hampshire and from what I read, the 14th oldest in the US.

     A. J. Croce is the son of early 1970's musical star Jim Croce. You might remember some of Jim Croce's songs like Bad Bad Leroy Brown and Time in a Bottle. (He had many others too.)  Jim Croce died in a 1973 plane crash when AJ was just a very young child.

     A.J. is fabulous musician in his own right. He's played with some big named bands such as Willie Nelson, Bela Fleck, and the Neville Brothers. He's also a songwriter, and his style is more a combination of blues, rock and rock-a billy. And boy can he play the piano. I later found out he is blind in one eye which makes his playing even more amazing.

    He treated us to a few of his father's songs as well as many of his own. It's was an great show and an enjoyable evening out.  

    And if you're interested in hearing him,here's one of the songs he played at the concert that I found on YouTube. It's a classic written by Billy Preston: A.J. Croce-YouTube,

   I hope everyone has a happy T day and week ahead. 

T Stands for a Day Out with My Daughter

 Hi everyone. Happy T day to all the  people who stop by over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeths blog. And to everyone else, happy new week.

     Back on the 7th of this month, I spent  a really fun day in downtown Portsmouth (New Hampshire) with my daughter. She drove over for the day, and we met a local Park-'N-Ride. I drove us into town, and first we went out for a late breakfast, then we shopped (and window shopped) a bit, and finally we concluded our time out with an afternoon matinee theater performance.

    First brunch, which is also my ticket to T day this week. We both had the same thing, which was a popover stuffed with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and pan fried potatoes.  It was yummy. And you can see our waters. Even better, my daughter bought it. ❤

     I also ran into a former student who was working there, which was a real pleasure for me, and I think for him too. After a big hug we had a couple minutes to catch up. He was part of a group of kids I was particularly close to my last couple of years of teaching, and I've wondered what happened to them since I retired and they all left and went off into the big world.

And here are some photos while walking around town.

This view of my daughter glancing out of the parking garage window caught my eye, and below, the city's Christmas tree at Market Square. Plus you might notice the bear (grin) in the Santa hat out greeting people who strolled by.

Some festive views, and then this poor guy with the lampshade. 😬

Here's the first of 2 bookshops we visited. This one was new to me, but I would LOVE a space like this in my house. Especially with the leather lounger. 

Plus they sold used books, and what's better to browse through than shelves of books waiting for more attention and love? I broke down and had to buy a couple. 😏  This first bookstore even had a store cat who was wandering around while we shopped.

The second bookshop only sold new books,  but I like this arch that was in it.

And here's a few words of wisdom

Finally it's off to the theater.

    I knew the play would be good because the Ogunquit Playhouse puts on some amazing productions, but it was even better than I expected. It was 99% sold out, but I took this photo early before many people had sat down. It was a fun day out with the best company, my daughter. 

    That's all for me. Have a great T day and week ahead.

T Stands for Last Week

      Hi everyone. Happy Monday to you. It is time once again for T over at Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog.    

      Last week we had some gorgeous weather at my house. My roses have forgotten it is just about fall, and they are blooming beautifully again. ❤

     I also finally gave my living room a good cleaning. I've been meaning to do this since early spring. Ha ha, you can tell I don't really like to do it. It's a good thing I had started when my brother called because after chatting with him for over an hour, if I hadn't started, I wouldn't have.

     I washed the windows, washed the curtains, gave a good cleaning behind the couch (boy was that full of dog hair-YUK!), and vacuumed the cobwebs out. However it is good to have it done. 

    One evening I even made an apple pie from some of the apples the hubby and I had picked the week before. 😏 It was yummy.

     This past Saturday I got together with 2 friends from college. One drove down from Portland, Maine and the other drove up from the burbs of Boston, Massachusetts. We went into Portsmouth (New Hampshire) for a day of window shopping, lunch and then an afternoon ice cream. Here's a couple of photos I snapped on our adventure.

The beautiful little petunia plant growing in the cracks of the sidewalk. I think someone planted it there in a space between the bricks but maybe not.

This cool wreath outside of a chocolate shop had cocoa pods on it. The pods were real, but dried.

A lock fence. Isn't it Paris the home of this custom?

The gardens in Prescott Park were really lovely.

 Peeling paint and a patina door knob. 

A very nice old front door.

Apple hands at a daycare center.

And my drink today is my beer with my lunch. We ate at a place called the Clipper Tavern, called that because the owners graduated from the high school where I taught and the school mascot is the Clippers.

     The salad was delicious, the water was cold and the Clipper Pale ale was tasty and really reasonably priced. And Lyn (Spyder) asked if I'd share my teapot/cup combo, but when I went to photograph it discovered it is in the way back of my cabinet, and I didn't have a chance to dig it out. Sorry Lyn. But I will get it out to share for another T day.

   My husband is  taking some time off from work, and we're heading north into our beautiful neighboring country and province. Besides practicing my limited French,  we'll be traveling this upcoming Sunday through  October 1. Since we're driving on this trip,  I won't be around for T day for the next 2 weeks. But I do have a couple of scheduled posts for AJJ and one for TIOT  so I won't be totally off the blog. I hope to have enough down time to stop by and comment on some blogs, but time will tell if that will happen (which is why I won't be joining T day). I hope everyone has a great couple of weeks ahead, as well as a super T day.

T Stands for English Muffins and More Babble

 Hi everyone. 

Another week has flown by, and it is already T Day once again over at  Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog. It's time to share your drink related post. My drink this week goes with my lunch one day, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Last week I decorated the house for this holiday season. I'd decided to go minimalist this year, but like every other time I decide to only put out a few things, I start having so much fun that  I don't end up being very minimalist at all. 😏

I also went to see a holiday play with some friends one afternoon last week, which was lots of fun as I haven't done that in a long long time. And the play was quite festive and well done too. 

The Musical Hall is a vintage performing arts center in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. They work closely with the Ogunquit Playhouse from Ogunquit, Maine. (Ogunquit isn't very far north up the road from Portsmouth as Portsmouth sits right on the border of Maine.) Elf was actually being presented by the Ogunquit Playhouse, but since their theater isn't winterized, it was being performed at the Music Hall.

I'm always fascinated by the sets, lighting and how they can change the scene right in front of you while you are totally engrossed in what the actors are doing. They didn't allow photos or videos during the performance, which only makes sense, so above is the stage before the play began and below is the photo at intermission.

You can see the stage area better here. I love the old private booths (no longer used for guests). I should have taken photos of the wooden seats (no  cushions) and the wooden floor. There's also a balcony on the sides and behind us. Last time I was at the Music Hall I sat up there during an evening when author Amor Towles  talked about writing and his books. Over the years I've been here for small venue concerts, to see other guest speakers and even watch films. 

 I'm not trying to be weird, but I have to show you the bathroom, which reminds me of a Hobbit House. It is definitely unique. Also, if people had been in the bathroom, I wouldn't have taken any photos.

The doors to each stall were decorated for the holiday, and notice the walls and the curve of the floor tiles.

And here's the common area where you can wash your hands.

Someone walked in right after I took these  2 photos so that was the end of my photos.

 And for T this week, let me share one of my lunches. 

One evening last week I made some homemade sourdough English muffins. (Recipe is here: KA Sourdough English muffins). I've made these before, but not for a long while.

And during my last trip to Trader Joe's for some groceries, I discovered this spread.

And so I combined the 2 with a bit of cheddar cheese for my lunch one day. You can also see my drink, which is a  Diet Coke I'd been drinking over a couple of days. 

Please excuse the clutter on my coffee table. I was actually reading as I ate that day, but stacked everything up to get a photo for T.

That's all for me this week. Hopefully it wasn't another too long post. Have a great T day and week ahead.

Read me a story

It's already the middle of the week. This week is just flying! More rain is due today, so it will be another dark and dreary day. Hurricane Jose (now tropical storm Jose) is making its closest path to us, but it shouldn't be more than a little  wind. But hopefully the humidity will blow on out with this weather when Jose moves further east into the Atlantic.

The news on the doggie front is that she is home. The vet said her surgery went well and the edges seemed pretty clear and the tumor didn't show any signs of growing inward. Now we just need to wait for the pathologist report which should be in later this week. She is a little lethargic and has a big incision with lots of stitches but she's up and about. 

So today I have a page from my calendar journal. 

The black and yellow is part of the calendar and I added the plaid, the polka dot tape and the white paper ribbon trim at the top. The little girl is a TH found relative and I drew in a chair for her to sit on. Otherwise standing in a sitting position can't be too comfortable.

Once again the colors of my page are those you see in the fall, so I am linking up to Yvonne's excellent challenge over at Art Journal Journey.

And here's a few more photos from my Saturday afternoon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Who doesn't love sunflowers?

Hope you're having a great day!

T Stands for A Gorgeous Garden

Happy T Day everyone. Once again it is Tuesday and time to share a drink related post.  Stop over at                            Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to join in the fun or to see what the T Gang has been up to.

So I mentioned in my last post that I got together with some college friends this past weekend. There was suppose to be 10 of us meeting for lunch, but we ended up with only 5 of us.

I really don't like this photo of me wit the double chin and it looks like I weigh 20 pounds more than I do.  Remind me not to pose in that angle next time please. :)

We met for lunch at the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Brewery and you can see my beer in front of me. It was a very good red beer made with local sugar kelp seaweed as part of a sustainable industry.

 After lunch we went for a little walk around downtown Portsmouth. We wandered down to the water and out to one area full of very old homes.I think this was one of the first areas of the city to be developed. The city was incorporated in 1653 and I think many of the homes in this area are from the 1700's.

(I looked up the history of Portsmouth and found out it was named after the city the founder was from. He was from Portsmouth England. Since Portsmouth was originally the capital of my state, and since the original Portsmouth is in Hampshire, England, our state took on its name of New Hampshire.)

You can see this old home is really right on the  narrow street and right up against its neighbors on the side. Yet still the owners planted this fantastic garden.

 It attracted so many butterflies. I was trying to get a good photo but they flittered so quickly. Can you find the one in the photo below?

I took lots of other photos on our walk. More to share another day.
And please keep your fingers crossed for me. Our 4 year old dog needs a cancerous tumor removed today. Hopefully, the area comes out clean and she cured.

Happy T day everyone.