It's Party time!!

I love this time of the year!! I love the decorating, I love the shopping, I love the cooking and baking, and I love the Christmas parties!! This photo was taken at my BookClub Christmas Party Thursday evening at Deer Park B&B in Buckhannon. I'm president of the bookclub this year and came up with the great idea of having a White Elephant sale to raise $$$ to pay for our Christmas Party. It was a huge success!! We made enough money to pay for all 12 of us to go to Deer Park and have a wonderful 5 course dinner with appetizers and drinks and wine!! A fabulous time was had by all!

"FLY" art in Kathy McElroy's poc-ket-FULL book

Thanksgiving in Florida

The Holiday season is upon us again!! My favorite time of the year is Thanksgiving and Christmas!! It seems that a new family tradition is developing...we go to either Jacob's or Jaimi's house in Florida for Thanksgiving and all the kids come home to Buckhannon for Christmas. This is fine by me...lots of great shopping in south Florida. NO shopping in Buckhannon!! I get a real jump start on my Christmas gift list over Thanksgiving!!!

October means fall is here!

I love the month of October!!

It's still warm, but that first hint of a chill comes every so often to remind us that fall is fast approaching! I also love fall decorations! Next to Christmas, fall is my favorite season to decorate around the house. I have a little WVU scene beside Jim's side of the garage for him to see every time he enters or exits his garage stall. Another favorite place for a fall scene is my kitchen window box...I can see it from inside and from outside! A win/win....

I have my first big, ole roaring fire in the TV room fireplace today. A sure sign that autumn is here.....

Jim Morrison's Grave

While visiting the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris , like millions before me, I just had to stop by and see Jim Morrison's grave. Thank goodness, we had a map and there was a crowd around the grave, because otherwise, we would have missed it. Among so many graves, Jim's was nothing grand or fancy. It was very plain and simple.

Jim's name was James Douglas---the same as my husband!

more favorite photos rom Paris...

Altered Art...sort of

This is the West Virginia version of "Mona Lisa"...

Kim Logan joins us in Paris!

Thanks to Karen Owen, Kim hooked up with us for 2 days of our Paris sojourn. We were thrilled to see her again and had a wonderful time getting to know her better and enjoyed her company immensely. She is delightful to be with and added another dimension to our trip. She even did a few things she had never done in Paris before!

Shirley and I somehow came up with the perfect plan for our 12 day trip to Paris. We had 2 travel days and 10 days to immerse oueselves into the Parisien world! We were as well prepared as possible and had the 10 days planned out and mapped so we didn't waste time once there. I think the fact that we didn't try to overdo our days made the trip relaxing and much more enjoyable. I've been to Paris many times, but this trip I felt for the first time, that I knew Paris!! We saw and did the little things that can come from having been there before and not being driven by the need to see the basic tourist things. We did only the things we wanted to do and had a marvelous mix of sightseeing, museums, flea markets, shopping, eating, relaxing, and just soaking in the heart and soul of Paris! My husband ask me what I would change next time, and I said "nothing"! Now, that is the true sign of a trip well done!!

Puce de Vanves flea market in Paris

Some assorted pictures i took at the wonderful Puce de Vanves flea market in Paris....

Andi and Shirley are on their way to Paris for 12 days!

Here's to two friends doing Paris together!!

Jim and his giant tomato plants!

Jim has been growing his vegetables organically for several years now and they are going crazy! He measured this tomato plant and it is 8.5 feet tall!

My flea market loot!

Some of my finds at the Rogers Flea Market

The 5 flea market gals in Lisbon Ohio, August 16 and 17

38th Anniversary!

Where has the years gone? Jim and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary yesterday. We both said it doesn't seem possible!

girls loose in New York City

6 of us Buckhannon girls went to New York City for 3 days. What an exhausting, whirlwind trip!! But we loved every minute of it...especially the play "The Color Purple"!!

Green's 1st Annual Pig Roast

Jacob is the second boy from the right. He had the green t-shirts made up in Florida as a surprise to Jon.In the picture on the right, Jaimi,is the girl on the left. The other girl is Jon's sister, Mindi. She and Jaimi graduated together, and Jon and Jacob graduated together.

My son, Jacob, and my daughter, Jaimi, flew home from Florida last weekend to attend Jacob's friend, Jon Green's, 1st Pig Roast. We all went and had a wonderful time!!
Jon, left, is cutting up the pig!!

My first jewelry creation...

My first piece of handmade jewelry...

These are the pieces of my pin before I assembled it.

My new bracelet!

I am so thrilled to be the new owner of this magnificent beaded bracelet!! It was made by Laurie Robberts .....

Altercations

Joanne Thiemme Huffman and I are enjoying each others company and art, at Altercations in Ann Arbor, Michigan this weekend. We worked all day yesterday designinmg a pin and cutting it out of 2 layers of metal, one layer of plexiglass and one layer of paper. Today we are going to asemble it. Now, this jewelry makiung, finally,gets exciting!! This is really my first venture into the world of making jewelry. After today I will own all the tools!! Just when I think I've bought everything I could ever possibly need, I start a new avenue of this crazy thing called mixed media art....

Check out my Slide Show!

Jacob in Panama Hat

Jacob has always loved hats and tries them on in all the stores that I can drag him into. Unfortunately, none of my 3 kids,or husband like to shop!! So, on vacation that's not a family activity...

Images fron the islands...

Family Vacation in the Cayman Islands

Jaimi, Jacob, J.D., Andi, and Jim on our annual family vacation to the Cayman Islands. This year we are there from June 30 to July 7th.

Summer wedding

My nephew, Jonathan, got married Friday and had his wedding pictures taken in our yard. They all looked beautiful! Jim's sister, Jill. is second from the left. Her son Jonathan and daughter, Courtney, are on the right.

I love summer weddings!!