Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Singing Like a Birdie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH7OjvniWbs

My baby grand-daughter is just learning how to express her joy and it brings a smile to my face to watch her sing. You can see how she experiments with the sounds she makes as she gaily expresses herself. We sing whenever we are together and of course I think she is a prodigy. Hope her audition will put a smile on your face.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

An Hour in Daytona

I probably wasn't being fair to poor Daytona. I did get some interesting photos.


http://picasaweb.google.com/wendilea/Daytona#



Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Mini Beach Vacation

Just returned from a mini beach vacation to New Smyrna Beach and had a great time of it. You could probably tell that my husband and I were from New Jersey, as the water temp was 70 degrees, which is too cold for most Floridians but warm enough for us as we ventured out into the foamy, choppy sea and paddled ourselves silly in the crashing waves. The first day featured gale force winds and an angry sea so we opted for a nice long walk instead of water-play. The second day was calmer and warmer... the perfect beach day by NJ standards and we wore ourselves out by the end of the day. We managed a short trip to Daytona, but there was really nothing to see there, as the pier was closed for renovations... unless you're into biker bars and big hotels. I did get lots of photos and was thrilled to see a new species of "thing" namely the Portuguese man-o-war which is that blue jellyfish nestled up to the crab in the picture above. They were scattered all over the beach, like inflated balloons with withered legs, and I'm glad I was ignorant to the fact that they sting on contact, or I wouldn't have enjoyed myself so much in the surf!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Heaven is a Dance Party



My favorite activity (at least the one I can talk about) is dancing, and this weekend I got the invitation of a lifetime. A friend of Gerry's from college who was refound on Facebook, invited us to a five hour dance party on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I was besides myself in anticipation because except for the occasional wedding there doesn't ever seem to be any clubs around for the 50 and over crowd. Although I don't mind some rap or hip hop, what excites me most is the dance music from my past... punk, disco, new wave, alternative, R&B... I'm not that fussy, as long as it's danceable. Well, we took the train in on Saturday for the party that lasted from 12-5 and I met the most terrific new friends and I got to dance for five hours to the best music from "our era." The music was so good in fact that there was no way that I couldn't dance for the full five hours. The best part was that I actually won the prize of a five hour CD set of the music that was recorded by our host (who is a terrific dancer and also danced almost every song as well)! I think Gerry captured me best in these shots which seem to suggest... get ready, get set, now dance like a maniac... and believe me I did! It was heavenly!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Betty and Otis





Poor Otis , my bunny rabbit has been put out of his usual routine this week and is a bit out of sorts. Betty, his slobbery bull dog cousin has been here for a visit while her parents traveled to California on vacation. She is a sweetheart and follows me around wherever I go. For the most part she tries to ignore Otis, as she has learned from the first ninja kick to her head that he doesn't like her much. She is a slow learner though, and either keeps trying to make friends with him, or just wants to get in his face to cause him the utmost in vexation. Usually Otis sits and meditates under the dining room table, but while Betty is around he feels safer lording over her at the top of the stairs. She, however, has been caught more than once sneaking up to Otis's carrot bowl and slobbering over his meal. Perhaps it is spitefulness for the kick received, but Otis was not amused and refused to eat the drooled upon carrots. Otis will try to sneak up behind Betty in a moment of daring, but as soon as she turns her big mug to look at him, he hops away in fright or disgust (it's hard to tell). As long as I am around they mange to stay out of each other's way, occasionally though there is a quick skuffle as Betty lumbers a little too close to Otis and he jumps at her with both paws ready to strike. She in turn barks at him and then there is an uneasy truce as I yell at both of them to behave. I need to give Betty plenty of attention because I can tell from her big sad eyes that she is a bit homesick... she is not eating with the usual bull dog gusto. But at night Gerry and I have to make sure Otis gets his proper attention too, so his jealously doesn't getting taken to extremes (he has already chewed many a moulding, which he only seems to do when he is upset.). As you can see, although he tries to act big and bad, Otis is really a momma's boy... just don't let Betty know.