Sandy came and left.

Sandy was a category 1 hurricane. Although it was the least dangerous compares to other categories, it was still scary. We have a huge (>50ft) pine tree in our front yard and I was so worried it was going to fall. But it stood strong against Sandy. However, some neighbours weren't so fortunate. Our neighbour's fence fell (1st picture) and a neighbour down the road had a tree fell into their yard. We drove around the neighbourhood on Tuesday (0.5 mile radius) and saw a total of 6 trees down. Part of the main road was closed to clean up a tree. There was no power in other side of the town. We were fortunate that nothing major happened to us, just the patio furniture cover was shredded to pieces by the 80mph wind gusts, and some branches from Mr. Pine scattered in the front yard. Our thoughts and prayers go to the people in NY and NJ who experienced the worst of Sandy.

To calm me down during the storm, I decided to bake dog treats for dogs in the shelter I started volunteering. It was a very simple recipe of 4 ingredients, but I should have used a mixture of whole wheat flour and all purpose flour instead of whole wheat only because the aroma of the whole wheat is strong in the cookie. The other 3 ingredients were sweet potatoes, eggs and applesauce. It was a very simple recipe, I hope the dogs will enjoy it.

Thanks World for watching over our little family. We are very grateful!

Summer's Joy

...... blissful sigh ......

My favorite time of the year!

Goodbye Summer! It has been an awesome one and I will miss you. However, I am ecstatic that Autumn is here and I got to try my first corn maze, eat the best apples ever (they were excellent with no bruises at all!) and look for my pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. The Autumn sun is 'different' from the Summer sun, but it makes me feel so cozy being in the house when I look out at the World. And the chrysanthemums, they are blooming everywhere. And the girls are sleeping next to the heater especially during the night. Even the sound of the furnace starting up put a smile on my soul. And me? I am in a baking spree! Special chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, soft fluffy rolls, and red velvet whoopie pies. The recently purchased 20lbs of flour will give me endless joy in the kitchen. Above all, I am so ready for Thanksgiving. We cannot stop watching online food channels featuring Thanksgiving menu. We have so much to be thankful this year even with some unpleasant bumps along the way. I see them as lessons/opportunities in life. Thank you Mother Earth, for watching over us. Thank you for the beauty you give us!

Summer's Wonderful Gifts

When you turn a house into a home, magic happens eveywhere, inside out.

Need I elaborate? I don't think so!

Garden Update

So what's new with the garden? This one:

Which became this:

Which made this little one happy too:

And remember my hydrangea propagation/rooting attempt, shoots are growing from this one:

And this one was big to begin with, but little shoots are visible from the nodes:

I have 3 little ones growing with it as well. I hope they all propagate. Tomatoes are getting big. This year we will have tomatoberry, honey bunches and purple tomatoes. Banana peppers are huge, and the birds are eating my thai chilis. I am waiting for one green pepper to turn red and tangerine peppers to turn orange. Happy Gardening and Happy Summer!

Hello Summer

My new obsession? HYDRANGEAS!! I think every house should have at least one. We have a tree with hydrangea leaves, except that it is a tree, not a shrub like most hydrangeas. Turns out to be the PeeGee type. I'm excited because I trimmed it down and I just found out that PeeGee blooms on new woods while the others bloom on old wood. Therefore, if one prune hydrangeas that require old wood to bloom, you just say goodbye to your next years' blooms. Thanks www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com! I learned a lot from your website. My PeeGee flower buds are visible now and I can't wait for them to bloom. I even went a step further to get some mopheads from a wonderful friend of ours and tried rooting it, which leads me to my garden! This year I decided to grow some tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and sunflowers. My back yard will be beautiful when the flowers bloom. With the new extended patio and pretty soon a pergola, I almost believe that happiness is here for good! With the fireflies, bunnies, birds, and a chipmunk, hello to the elements of happiness. They are like angels protecting us from the demons and keeping my yard as happy as happy can be! Now, if only I can stay in my yard forever, life would be ABSOLUTELY marvelous. HAPPY SUMMER and let the MAGIC start!

Lifeclass Lessons

Everyone who came to this country entered with a dream of endless and equal opportunities. Unfortunately, very quickly, uglies came and told most of them where they should stand because they have one thing that they cannot change. Miraculoulsly, living among the uglies were these sightless ANGELS whose works no one knew except by those who experienced the enmity. These ANGELS, little did they realised, had given a special gift to their children because of what they did to somebody's child. As for the uglies, although they would never received the miseries they inflicted on the non-fairness, they had already defined the life of their children, transferring the wickedness, unbeknownst to them. To the ANGELS, thank you! To some, remember your switch; To others, thank you for the lessons.

Spring Cleaning

Rooms: √
Old clothings for donation: √
Old shoes for donation: √
Garden box cleared: √
Baby bunnies in garden box: SURPRISE!!
Sunshine on my face: YAY!!

Alouette ...

Alouette gentille alouette
Alouette, je te plumerai
Je te plumerai la tête (2x)
Et la tête
Alouette
Ooh ...

Oh Target, quel mal est cette chanson!

Another Powerful Message

'There's a SWITCH in all of us.
Find a way to turn it ON,
And you will experience something AMAZING!'

The problem is, not many people get to find it. Most that did had to go through something drastic before they found it! If you are struggling now, don't give up. You were CHOSEN to find the switch. In the meantime, there are SUPPORTS all around you, do not be afraid to ASK. You will be surprise of what comes to you.
BELIEVE in yourself!

photo from: http://connect.legacy.com/inspire/page/show?id=1984035%3APage%3A6733

Powerful message.

got this from http://damienkatz.net/2007/05/your_existence_1.html

Can I be like Matt?

Here's how I see Matt's world: we are one color, we are one voice, we all want peace - we are just ONE! Sadly there are people who do not want to see that.

Beautiful song, beautiful meaning too.

Praan Lyrics
Bhulbona ar shohojete
Shei praan e mon uthbe mete
Mrittu majhe dhaka ache
je ontohin praan

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)

Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde
Chittobinar taare
Shotto-shundu dosh digonto
Nachao je jhonkare!

Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)

"Stream of Life"

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Living in low country

So many new things to see, to learn, to experience, to love, and unfortunately, to not like ...

They have over here, a different kind of grapes that are so amazing I thought I was in paradise. They are called muscadines, or some call them scuppernongs. I first saw them at the farmer's market outside my work place. I bought some and tried them and my taste buds went crazy! And this morning I decided to go to the real farmers market at the town square and got more, plus other vegetables for the week. There are different ways to eat them. Johnna from http://www.mamadukesfarm.com/2/post/2011/08/traded-eggs-for-muscadines-today.html teaches you how to eat them. When I first tried them, I ate everything except the seeds, by now I discard the skins and seeds. I had trouble uploading a photo I took so I guess you can google the grapes.

And the mocking birds, they are everywhere. You cannot really miss them with their distinct and loud voice.

What else to do on this beautiful Saturday? The beach came to my mind, so I guess if I am not too lazy I will drive down to the beach then. Maybe I will get to see the dolphins if I am lucky enough.

Bye Summer

Hello Fall! I am in a quaint tourist town right now. I like this place so far. It is full of history with magnificent old buildings. It is located near the ocean so there are miles and miles of beach to explore. The weather has been nice, mostly in the 70s, but it gets hot when the breeze takes a break, and nobody is complaining. In order to get to downtown, I have to cross one of the many bridges that connect the center point. And twice a day, the sight that greets me in doing that is awesome. I am truly blessed to be here. I pray that the World keeps watching over me.



Pict. 1: http://www.forbestravelguide.com
Pict. 2: http://www.city-data.com/picc35249.php

My Garden

Did I tell you I love my garden? Yeah, I love my garden : )

I made the most delicious dinner the other day, thanks to my garden. We had lots and lots of tomatoes and peppers. I decided to make some tomatoes sauce with basil from the garden and fresh garlic from the store. The sauce was so sweet and I added a pinch of roasted garlic salt to taste. I cooked pasta to go with it. Then made a simple apple salad with green apple, onion, lime juice, corn, with hot pepper and mint from the garden. It was heavenly, absolutely heavenly. Makes my mouth waters just by typing this.



Musikfest is here! Anyone who has been to Musikfest knows how awesome it is! They have this huge area where they set up tents here and there and have different kind of music. Over priced food, most of them are fried: oreos, sneakers, cakes, even kool-aid. Don't forget the aw-shuck corns. Alcohol tents all over the place. So you can imagine how it becomes by the end of the day. You can't possibly see everything in a day, so people actually take time off just to go to Musikfest. My favorites are country music and the 80s/90s. They sure don't make music the way they did in the late 80s to late 90s. They took me back to those times, great memories!

Bye July

It has been fun living with you. Crazy busy at work but fun at home. We watched the final part of Harry Potter in the drive-in theater, with the full moon shining down on us ... magical! Pool time at friend's house. BBQ in the backyard every other week. Delicious tomatoes and pepper from the garden. Watermelons will be ripe soon. Jasmine flowers spreading its scent all over the deck. Clear cool night outside. Iced green tea with honey and mint. Country music filling the air. Bunnies hanging out under the bird feeder. Cardinals, sparrows, robins, blue, yellow, black birds pecking on seeds. Song birds singing to us. Light breeze blowing every so often. Trimmed hedge. Close your eyes and imagine that ... that's my backyard. And those days with 95F-110F? That was when you hang out in the pool. That huge thunderstorm on Monday? The plants are thankful for it.
As for the picture above, sunflowers from the store, lilies and hydrangea from friend's yard.
August will be here soon. A new adventure. Hope it will be as great as July if not better. New moon on Saturday/Sunday?

Summer magic

Every season is different. What can I say about summer? Ice creams, yard sales, extended daylight, plants growing, animal all over the place, beach, shorts, fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers ... I could go on and on ...

Summer makes you happier. Fireflies, outdoor festivals, drive-in movies, stree fairs in NY city (woohoo!) ... sigh ... Life is beautiful in America!

Happy Summer!

photo: http://www.backgroundsfordesktop.blogspot.com

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July America! Thank you for everything.
Enjoy and be safe!

picture from:http://www.rockanddrool.com

Second camping attempt

I love it! I love it! That's all I can say. Though it was a bit bright outside from the city light, it didn't bother me. Around 1 am the moon was shining down on us. We slept until past 6 am when the first plane flew past our house to land at the nearby airport. The tent was covered in dew. We continued our sleep indoor. That was last week.

Today, it rained on and off. Sometimes it was light, other times it was heavy. I managed to mow the back yard before the weekend starts ... yay!!! I weeded my garden too. I'm so excited. Tomatoes are getting big. I see baby melons here and there. Hot peppers are growing too. I found out too that bunnies like to rest on those patches without grass in my yard.

Right now the clouds are clearing fast. I saw a star when I came out. Now I see many stars. It's the waning crescent phase. Time to clean out some garbages ...

Good night World. Thank you for watering my plants today.

I am home

I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

Well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home
Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love remains true.
And I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

So I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,

Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all,
And then some you don't want.
Be careful what you wish for,
'Cause you just might get it all.
You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.