Wonderful Italian-Style Chicken Soup

On a cold blustery day (we do have a few in Florida) I love to make this hearty soup and invite a few (dozen) friends over to enjoy it.

If you are lucky someone will volunteer to bring the wine and breadsticks!     (click on title for more...)

Running on empty

The truck beside me had an interesting graphic representation of a cow holding a cell-phone in one hand and carrying a briefcase in the other. There was a tie around its neck  I noticed the product it was trying to hawk was Red Bull and most surprising of all, the truck was owned by a local company known mainly as a beer distributor.

This set me to thinking how times have changed for the up and coming business person. Instead of looking forward to a time to relax with a beer, they are thinking how they can boost their energy enough to take another call and another meeting.

I'm not going to judge the benefits of either drug. Just noticing the swing of yet another pendulum during my lifetime.

Read to me Daddy?

My toddler grandson is lucky enough to have two parents who read to him all the time. They have already instilled a love of books in this child that I don't think can be destroyed even by the exciting sounds and pictures of TV and video games. He enjoys the flashing lights for sure, but he would much rather sit beside you and read a book. He had chosen "Not The Hippopotamus" as his favorite by the age of one and now at almost two, he is enjoying the Dr. Seuss books most of all.

I have a feeling "grandma's day" will often find us at the library!

Rainbow wedding feast

This picture was taken at one of my favorite hang-outs: The Brevard Zoo. They have a fantastic free flight aviary where you can walk among the birds in a natural setting and even offer them cups of nectar or wooden sticks coated with birdseed that are provided at the bird concession stand.

This pair of Lories seemed to be saying their "I Do's" with the colorful Justice of the Peace chirping "you may kiss the bride."

Being included

Someone once said "children hear and see like beings from another planet" and that came to mind when I shot this photo of my toddler grandson trying to break into the circle of a group of children dancing in a ring. I had said "aren't they having fun dancing?" and he immediately wanted to join in but the children stubbornly refused to open their hands and let him break into the group, even refusing to make eye contact with him.

I hope he never feels this sense of not belonging when real people are involved. I hope he will find that one warm hand reaching out and welcoming him. I pray it will be there for him as it so often has been for me. I have been blessed with so many great people in my lifetime. It seems at every turn there was encouragement and appreciation just when I needed it most.

Sea World Orlando - not just for summertime fun

It wasn't the kind of day that comes to mind when you think about Florida. The day after Christmas was chilly and damp and there wasn't much blue sky visible but our dispositions were sunny as we entered the gates to Sea World Orlando. One of the first things that greeted us was a mammoth Christmas tree decorated by huge brightly colored ornaments.


The park's Voyager's Smokehouse restaurant was delightful to see with upside down Christmas trees mounted from the ceiling beams. There was a real holiday spirit everywhere and several special Christmas shows.

I had borrowed a hover-round for the day due to a bum knee and it gave me a whole new appreciation for those who depend on scooters and wheelchairs for mobility. Sea World is very carefully laid out to accommodate everyone traveling through the areas we visited but I would have had a rather limited view of the Whale & Dolphin show from the small area designated for wheelchairs. Since I was able to walk up to regular seating it was no problem. The real problem was caused by thoughtless pedestrians. I had to be constantly vigilant of people stepping into my path as if I were immobile when actually I was motoring along at a slow pace. It was quite unnerving!

We saw improvements and enhancements to the exhibits every where we went. I have always loved Sea World's natural Florida look. And they figured out very early on how to keep their guests cool on a hot summer's day with mist and fans. But I was happy to see they also know how to warm things a bit when needed. What could have been a cold dank chamber was a comfortable dry walk when we visited the indoor aquariums and penguin exhibits.


We have Florida resident annual passes, called Fun Cards, so when our under-two-year-old grandson got tired and cranky after just a few hours, we didn't feel bad about heading home. There's always tomorrow. 

Saying goodnight to Christmas Day

We have had two days of pure joy but it is almost over for this year. The special glasses decorated with holly and the plates with Santa and his reindeer will be packed away along with the tree and lights and nutcrackers and everything will be hauled back up to the attic by next weekend.

The joy will be close at hand though, thanks to digital photography. We got great shots of everyone in the family and they will be right here for me to look at anytime I like. Chris Brogan is hosting a Holiday Photo Project , so if you would like to join in some fun and possibly win some books and cool stuff, check out his blog entry and post your own cool holiday photos and video.

One of my favorites is of all five of the grandkids opening their stockings this morning. One of the girls looks amazed when she pulled out a long string of gift cards.

Food is a big part of most get-togethers at our house and Christmas is the biggest. Okay, so the Christmas cookies were all eaten before the big day and the ginger cake fell in the middle. You should have seen the pies! Thanks to winning a prize of Dove chocolates from The Dirty Shirt blog, we had two extra-special desserts to share. One was a very large box of graham crackers coated in this scrumptious chocolate. Half were coated with Dove dark chocolate (my favorite) and the other half was thickly coated with their famous milk chocolate. Pure, sweet silky chocolate on the tongue with a crunchy center in both cases. The second box was mixed nuts covered in both milk and dark chocolate. Ummm, these were like bites of heaven. My granddaughters also gave me 2 bags of Dove dark chocolate Promises so I don't have to worry about running out between now and my birthday in February. I guess everyone in the family knows of my addiction to Doves.

But the best part of Christmas for me is seeing the sparkling eyes of happy children and hearing their voices. The video of our youngest grandson discovering his new fire truck comes with flashing lights, sirens and a loudspeaker to drive us nuts with all day. I had to keep reminding him "no running 10-18 in the house!"