Bitching 'bout the things we've been...Bitching 'bout the things we've had...My oh my, it wasn't so bad...

There's nothing besides prayer that heals a woman's soul like a night out with the girls to just bitch...and LAUGH~ Tuesday 6 of us met at Shirley's for fun and food.

Here are all the "bitches" (not really) with the exception of the photographer, of course.

Weezie brought a little "Bitch Bubbly".....

Shirley showed off her culinary skills with a "Shrimp Scampi"....

Love my girlfriends! Now heading to PA for the weekend with one of my FL girlfriends and her husband.

And girls they wanna have fun....Oh girls, just wanna have fun!

Monday night Bunco with "my girls" started last night. Ricki, Lauren, Gerri and Gwen.....

Erma, Betsy (making her first appearance on the Blog) and Liz......

Joan, Doreen, Sandy (also making a Blog debut) and Frances.....

Prize time....Gerri Couch displays her gift....

That's a pretty hearty laugh Ricki....did you get a "booby" prize????

And Lauren displays her "fine china"....I believe she said it was "almost Limoge".

And congratulations to my beautiful sister-in-law Rindy (pictured here with her husband Joe and children Janna and Matthew) on passing her RN boards with flying colors. Anybody will be blessed to have her nursing them.

Where I come from...rain is a good thing!

Rain may be a good thing but I am sick and tired of it....again this year. We have had so much rain that working outside is almost impossible....and we have SO much to do before showing the house. It has been so wet that even on days when it isn't raining it's nothing but mud in areas we should be concentrating on.

This is a rather blurry picture of the "Bounty" which has been sailing the St. Lawrence. It was built in 1960 to be used for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty....a beautiful tall ship.

Congratulations to our nephew Paul Karpel...Paul graduated from Owego Free Academy last week and will be going off to SUNY Oneonta this Fall.

Our nieces Janna and Evelyn (sisters) embrace after a long year away. Evelyn attended SUNY Potsdam for her Freshman and Sophomore years and will now be transferring to SUNY Oneonta for her final two years. Janna will be a Senior at Owego Free Academy.

We had Emma for 3 nights last week....what a lovely young lady she is turning out to be. She has matured so much this past winter. She loves to come to Grandma's and Pop's and have candlelight dinners with classical music. Her choice for this one "spaghetti"....

She has started her guitar lessons, and played for me and Pop....index, middle, index, middle, index, middle, index, middle...SO funny!!

Thursday was ladies coffee at Elaine Brooks' home. I finally got to meet and cuddle Greyson, Jada and Garrett Field's little one. He is such a beautiful, happy little boy. Garrett has been deployed to Kuwait, so Jada and Greyson will be spending the summer here with Karen and Stub.

Jada with Greyson...

The group gathers every Thursday morning at a different home. Gives us all an opportunity to catch up on all the happenings.......

Pam Barton, Joan Luce, Gerri Couch and Karen Lashomb.....

Let me tell you a secret about a father's love.......

Happy Father's Day.....

Salt and the kids on our "honeymoon".....the week he became an instant "father" 21 years ago!


Betty and me with my dad....I miss him SO much!


Bill and the kids....that's a Birthday party hat on Betty's head....we didn't make her wear her dunce hat in pictures....ha ha. Sorry Bet, your mom is in one of her silly moods!



I missed so much blogging while my computer was down, I am going to catch up in bits and pieces. Here is our beautiful Janna, who was inducted into Honor Society...Junior year. We are all so proud of you Janna! Just goes to show you you can have beauty and brains!!

Joe, who graduated from Oneonta University this year, is now having the time of his life, biking and climbing across the country. You go Joe!! The real world awaits you, so have the time of your life while you can!!

They said I could go far....me and my guitrar.

Now that my Internet is finally working again, I guess it's time to catch up on some blogging....even though my life has been totally BORING lately. We have been dedicating our time to getting the house ready for sale, which also includes lots of cleaning out files, cupboards, etc......certainly NOT fun stuff.

We made a promise to Emma, that if she didn't win the guitar in the silent auction at Keith Brabant's memorial fund raiser, we would take her mother's old guitar in and have new strings put on it. Why did I know ahead of time it wasn't going to work out that way???

As soon as we took the guitar out of the case and told they guy it was for an 11 year old, he just kind of shook his head. Told us it would never work, the guitar was much too large for her. SO, Pop ended up buying her a brand new guitar which fit her. Of course then the owner of the store says...."I wouldn't give a child a guitar without lessons....they will lose interest in a hurry". SO........now Grandma is paying for lessons.

The neat part is, they are going to let Betty bring her guitar in and sit with Em during the lesson. This means that Bet will be able to help her out during the week while she is practicing. Betty never got lessons with hers, as shortly after she got it, Bill got sick and we were thrown into our 2 year 3 month nightmare.

Pop of course with his his fantasy mind, thinks he is resurrecting an act like the Judds. What a nut!

Oh can't you see that you were born to stand by my side...And I was born to be with you...you were born to be my bride.

Saturday we attended Kristen Marra and Alex Beebee's wedding. The weather was beautiful, the bride of course was beautiful and everything went very well at the reception held at Bonnie Castle in Alex Bay.

Here Kristen gets some help from her Maid of Honor and older sister Chelsea.

I love St. Mary's church in Clayton....they have left it like the Catholic churches from my childhood. So many now (like the one I belonged to in Owego...St. Patrick's) have been remodeled to what they call a "modern" design.

Reciting their vows....

One of the little flower girls mom started down the isle and their was this loud shriek....this little one was NOT walking down that isle on her own......

The Father of the Bride's big hurdle....to get through the Father-Daughter dance. John did well, but I do believe I saw some damp eyes.

The little one wasn't so shy once she got outside. They were both SO cute!

Cocktails on the deck....here's Meg Parker enjoying the hor devours

Her mom shows a little sexy leg. She was all dressed when Megan said her outfit looked like a Grandmother's so Meg went and outfitted her from her own closet....nice job Meg!!

Nice ride....

Paternal grandparents, Phil and Yuvone Marra stand next to Nancy, mother of the bride....

We shared a dinner table with Lisa and Eddie Bazinet.,,.Karen and Stub LaShomb were also at the table with us but trust me, if I posted the picture of Karen she would kill me. She must have been ready to read the riot act to Stub....which she needs to do quite often...LOL

The three beautiful Donaldson sisters.....

Bonnie Castle is a beautiful setting for a wedding....it overlooks the river and Boldt Castle.

It's a brother and a sister kinda thang...Raise up your hands if you all wanna hang with me and my gang....

My girlfriends are coming back to the island.....The first "Ladies Coffee" was held this morning at the home of Phylis Schwartz. So much fun seeing all the girls and catching up with every one's winter.

Lolita is getting ready to Phylis her "tic" bite. Not looking good, so she is headed to the doctors.
The tics are bad again this year. Since we have had several people in the North country come down with Lyme disease everyone is on high alert.

Janice Brooks-McPhail survived another North country winter and is already super involved with her island volunteering.

Pam Brooks-Barton will be spending the entire summer on the island this year. Here she is with both of her daughters, Lindsey (with son Caleb) and Kylie. Lindsey will be leaving next week for Germany, where she and her husband (military) will spend the next 3 years.

Roxanne, Janet and Jerri....deep in conversation (or mischief?).

June and Betsy Fitter....

And I had to post this picture of June....she looks so good and right at home in the rocker!

Well, other than coffee this morning, Salt, Betty and I have been busy getting the house ready to list. As of tomorrow, Jack and Laura Stopper will have the listing. You will all be able to take a virtual tour on the Internet in a few days......

Busy weekend ahead...Saturday is Kristen Marra's wedding and Sunday we will be on the mainland visiting with my brother George and his wife Cheryl. I'm taking homemade Holupsi, one of my brother's favorites. Will be great fun having some one-on-one time with them.