Still perfect after all these years...

After such a sad and stressful week, Tony & I thought it would be great to treat ourselves and the kids to a fancy dinner.  We both said "Dilworthtown Inn" out loud at the same time!  Kyle went with us for dinner about 5 years ago, it's been that long!  It was Alexa's first time!  So 'cited!  I'm so glad we decided to splurge.  Dilworthtown is the only place we've ever been and have never ever been disappointed!

When we arrived it was still very quiet and we had a room to ourselves until just before dessert.  Our server's name was Willy. 

If you ever happen to go to the Dilworthtown Inn, be sure to request Willy.  We knew he was awesome from the start, but we soon realized that a few of the tables that were seated in "our" room, were regulars that had actually requested him. 

The following pictures are glimpses of a few of our/mainly my dishes.  It was heaven on a plate, I tell you!

Charred beef carpaccio.  It literally melted in my mouth.

Alexa's calamari with a sweet red pepper sauce.  Yes, my kids are crazy for calamari.  Go figure!

Luckily Alexa and I have very similar tastes!  We got the Chateaubriand for two.  It was served with a hollandaise sauce that contained tarragon.  Perfection.

And for dessert....when we made our reservation we knew what we wanted and ordered Banana's Foster in advance.  The first time I had it was at Dilworthtown.  I was in love and I don't even like bananas!  It's not on the regular dessert menu, but we've learned that if you plan on going to Dilworthtown Inn let them know that you want it for dessert and they are all prepared to, well, prepare it for you.  We ordered it for the whole family.  Willy rocked the bananas foster!  No doggie bag needed.

We already decided that we won't wait another five years before we return!

Saying our goodbyes...

It's hard to believe that this picture of Alexa and her Pop Pop was taken less than a year ago.

Tony's dad passed away last Friday evening surrounded by his family.  He had been in pain for the last several months, and in the hospital for the last two.  As sad as we are we are thankful that his suffering is over. The room and the halls were filled with family, all there to support and pay their respects, and say goodbye.  It was an amazing and touching event to be a part of and witness. 

It's the first loss of one of our parents and the first immediate family loss for our kids.  They are doing remarkably well.  Alexa asked if she could write and deliver the eulogy, and she is, she makes me proud every day.

My mother in law's sisters have been amazing, taking turns preparing dinners for us to share at my MIL's every evening. 

I received an email this morning from a friend I've known since high school.  His words brought tears to my eyes, in a good way...

"I was watering in my small patch of dirt that I call a garden this morning (apartment living I do miss my gardens) and listening to the birds...and the dull sounds of town starting to wake up and the train whistle and thought how wonderful nature is and watering my small (hope they will make it) coneflowers (tangerine dream) thought of you.
Thought of the kids and their new life experience and your husband...oh, heck, the whole dern family came rushing in...
Guess in my verbose way just saying that I am thinking of you all and my wish and prayer is that you find peace and are able to celebrate the life and love of one you hold so dear.  Take the time to grieve and through the tears remember the joy that was shared over and over, and how many lives have been touched by that joy, a thread that you all have a piece of, a thread that Nick wove into the garment he called family, and wore with pride."

It's gonna get ugly out there!

Our Philadelphia Flyers are in the playoffs!  Who knew??  They had such a so so season and then eeked their way into the playoffs.  Not many were even paying attention.  My husband, who in past seasons has gone to the games and watches them on TV was mostly focused on the Phillies as were most of the sports fans in our area.  He figured they wouldn't get passed the first series in Boston.  I mean, they were down 3 games to 0.  No team has ever come back from that deficit in a playoff series!

Until now.

And now they are UP 2 games to 0 against the Habs (Montreal Canadians) in the conference championships!  How did this even happen?? 

My friend Dominique lives near Montreal and is a huge Habs fan.  I will feel bad if her team loses but I want my team to WIN! 

It's the worst case scenario!  (friendship-wise)  

And I'm so sorry Dominique (if you're out there) but I have to do it:

LET'S GO FLYERS!!!!!!!!!!!

My latest yard sale finds!

I'm always surprised at what I can find at yard sales.  BFF Becky and I set off last Saturday to one of our favorite neighborhood annual sales. 

I probably spent more per item than I would normally spend, but the quality of what I purchased definitely justified it!

I have a small collection of Watt Ware.  This is my third piece in this pattern, mainly because I don't find it very often or if I do it's more than I want to pay.  I found this large bowl for $20.  It will go right next to the matching spaghetti bowl I purchased in Massachusetts about 10 years ago.

BFF Becky and I both spotted a pair of these vases, $20 for the pair.  We both loved them, but didn't need 2 so lucky us, we split them for $10 each!

Geekily enough, this is my favorite purchase of the day!  This huge Nikon camera bag was brand new with the tags!  I can fit my camera and all 3 of my lenses with room to spare for accessories for the bargain basement price of $5!  I couldn't help looking it up online and was thrilled to find them selling for more than ten times what I paid!  Sweet!

And this has nothing to do with yard sale treasures but I'm loving my new Nook eReader that I received for Mother's Day!  According to Tony, I can download eBooks for free from our county library's web site and they are automatically "returned" after 21 days!  Scooore!!

The gang's (almost) all here!

I took a morning walk through my gardens to see what's poppin'.  I find that the morning light works the best for me to photograph my flowers.  I'm not sure if anyone else has the same experience, but I've never really taken a photo in the bright daylight that satisfies me.

It had rained yesterday and was still damp this morning.  I couldn't resist taking another stab at snapping some water droplets!

The irises that border my front fence are family heirlooms.  The bulbs were first planted at my grandmother's house in Westfield, NJ in the 1930's.  My mother took some of them when she got married and moved to Iselin in her first home, then took them from our Islelin house to the house we built in Westfield, to our house in Pennsylvania.  When I got married she dug some up and brought them over to my house.  As a matter of fact, so many of the plants/bulbs and even my weeping cherry tree, that I have are from my mother's house.  They've since sold their home and retired so it means so much to me to have them.

I spotted my first blooming coneflower this morning!

I planted the lupine seeds, well actually I just threw them into my front garden, after reading the children's book Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney to my second graders 20 years ago.  They've been dependable and prolific for me ever since.  It's amazing how a garden for me can hold so many memories, which is probably why spring is my favorite season.

Mr. Chipmunk

One of our favorite stops when we visit Maine is to our friend's home on Square Pond in Acton.  When we visited last summer they were entertaining the children by feeding the resident chipmunk family peanuts.  This little guy was the most social, and quite the poser!  He literally posed for at least three seconds in this position, allowing me to snap away!

Timmy's World

The camera phone challenge has proven to be very difficult for me but was fun to experiment!  My dogs make me happy (and they were the only ones home with me today) :-) I think that this one came out the best.  It was taken with my iPhone:

Remembering Mrs. Moran

My dear friend Angelee took a ride with me out to Lancaster County today to pick up some candle jars.  On the way back we stopped at an Amish stand that was selling flowers.  Have I mentioned that I like flowers? 

I ended up purchasing two bleeding heart plants.  There's just something that fascinates me about them.  I remember as a child, the first time I saw them was in Mrs. Moran's garden.  Mrs. Moran was my grandmother's neighbor and had the most amazing garden.  I would seek out the bleeding hearts (only when accompanied by Mrs. Moran) and just stare at them and wish I had the nerve to pinch one off and take them home with me.  Flowers to me had petals, it was so hard for me to believe!

After all of these years, I finally have my own!

My favorite flower picture

I love coneflowers!  They are the most dependable and prolific flower that I've ever planted in my gardens.  They were the inspiration for the name of my company, Coneflower Ranch Bath & Body.

Of the hundreds of photos I've taken of my coneflowers, this one is my favorite:

What's wrong with this picture?

When Tony brought this bottle of ketchup home I could hardly believe it!

Can you see what I'm talking about?

Here's another view in case you missed it. 

A company should not have to advertise that their product isn't poisoned with high fructose corn syrup!  My first reaction was positive but it just shows that almost everything in the grocery stores contain HFCS.  The commercial that was being shown here in the U.S. with two mom's talking about it and the one saying it was okay in moderation is ridicuous if it's in EVERYTHING!

Here's an article from 2007 that explains the effects that HFCS has on our bodies:

How High Fructose Corn Syrup Damages Our Bodies 

Two years ago when Tony & I went on the South Beach Diet we couldn't have anything with HFCS.  It was near impossible to find products pre-packaged foods and condiments or even whole grain bread that didn't contain it.  I know it's gotten better but seriously, this stuff needs to be outlawed as it is in other countries.  I just have to add that I am in NO WAY an organic foods/health food person, however if we could just rid our diets of this one thing it would seem beneficial to our general health, and we wouldn't even notice we were missing anything, maybe it would even taste better.  I remember when Tony brought home the Pepsi that they carry in our local grocery during Passover the first thing I thought when I tasted it was, "Wow!  This is what Pepsi tasted like when I was growing up!"

/rant.  Thank you.  :-)

Being Joy...

My husband and son have left for the Phillies game blessedly early. 

I'm nursing/icing my sore swollen ankle, so I'm joining my puppies Joy & Timmy on the sofa, turning on a good movie and enjoying a lazy Tuesday afternoon!