Monday's News-last weekend before school

Yes this weekend was the last before school. On Friday My daughter got her hair done. I treated her to Highlights and a thinning.

Had a few errands to run on Friday. Left the house, now the funny part.....My car is in the garage, I started it up and drove away didn't realize I had no shoes on until I was down the road! So I did all my errands in my socks! Lucky I didn't need to go into any stores or banks.
Saturday morning woke daughter up with the information we are going to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. the last hurrah before School starts. We picked up her boyfriend and headed out. It was a one and a half hour drive. The weather was great. We had a fun time. Photos to be posted on Wednesday on both mine and daughter sites. We went are separate ways so we have different views of the faire.

Sunday the last day before school starts. Daughter made cookies and had a girlfriend over to pick out cloths to wear. I sewed a cape for her, she wanted a renaissance cape. First real project in my new vintage sewing room.

Early this morning daughter is off to her first day of eleventh grade. Where has the time gone?

Aloha Friday-In the News

Welcome to Aloha Friday. This is a day according to Kailani that in Hawaii one takes it easy and prepares for the weekend. Oh I so want to go to Hawaii....I know I would love Fridays there!
An Island Life is the place to link up a question to ask Surfers and Friends visiting your site.

Here is your question for today:

How would you feel is you had to pay a fee to your city for having a blog?

This is really happening in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

"In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license......She's not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made."

So, how would you feel if you got such a Letter?

Upon further research I found out that this is a Freelance registration fee. If you earned money on your blog either through advertising, giveaways or click through companies like CMF,EC and Adgetize, then you have a business. The town looks at the blog as a Freelance business, so therefore you must pay a fee of 50 dollars a year or 300 dollars for life. This is called a licensing fee.

If this happened here I think I would not have any advertising or click through companies on my site. I really do not make any money on my sites, However I do advertise so mine would be considered a Freelance Blog. Glad I do not live in Philadelphia!

A Daughters Blog.

My daughter has a blog as some of you know. She is always thrilled to get comments and Followers. I thought for this Thursday Friends post I would Direct my visitors to her blog.

A little about Thursday Friends and Giveaways; Hosted by Tammy's two cent and Menopausal new Mom. there are two links on their sites one for new followers and one for giveaways. be sure to link up there.

Today and the next few day my daughter will be featuring her view on our NSL vacation trip. Travel over there and give her a shout. I am teaching her how to follow back so leave your link with her.
Here is the Link:

Ramblings From Lyd

WW-Canadian View

Interested in Wordless Wednesday visit

Wordless Wednesday Headquarter
To link up

you can also visit, Seven Clown Circus for Wordful wednesday.

I pick a few photos of our NSL (Northern Sun Loop) trip that are my favorite. This weeks view is from the Niagara Falls, Canada side.
Be sure to enlarge them for a perfect view.
(just click on them).

Arriving in to Canada- from Buffalo New York

Arriving Niagara Falls Canada.

American falls-View from the Canadian side

My favorite Photo. Horseshoe Falls- full view.

At night the fall are lite up from the Canadian side

The American Fall

Canadian Horseshoe Fall.

On the bridge returning to USA. View of both falls.

Please Link up your WW Post. It makes it easier to visit.


For more NSL Photos visit Auntie E's Garden(your Link).

Monday's News-Back from NSL

We are back from our Northern Sun Loop trip. It was really fun and exciting. Critter and Lyd had a great time. I was able to post a little during vacation. However I made it a point not to be on during most of the time. Programed some recipes and other things to post while I was out. This was the first time I went on vacation and did not drop EC or visit Blog friends. I really missed reading and visiting. However I am always on Hubby for being on line and checking in to work while we are on a trip. So this time I made it a priority to take my advise.

I did post two times and that was on Monday and Wednesday. Some Monday info and Wednesday photos. Another thing I did was send some photos to Auntie E's On The Go via my Phone. There will be lots of photo these next few weeks to share with you all.

Now to my Weekend..... Friday we returned home. Before we left we had a water leak in the basement. So we needed to check on that! it was still damp but no more water leaked.

Saturday hubby and I went to the movies saw The Expendables. I did a review on the movie. Had to uncover the pool and add some water. Daughter tried to mow the lawn but the lawn mower was damaged. So, I had Chris mow it. She really wanted to mow it, but when stuff happens other plans need to be made. We will need to buy a new mower for next year.

Sunday My daughter had her Boyfriend over. I worked on Photos and we just took it easy. It was a raining day. Hubby and I have been watching "The Gates". I really like that show. It is about Vampires, Wolverines,Succulents, Witches and other abnormal folks trying to live a normal life in a community. A very Interesting Show. We like the characters and the Police chief. The Police chief is a normal human who is trying to keep the secrets as he finds out about them. When I was young I loved Dark Shadows a soap opera. This one is like a Soap opera only in the evenings. Remember when there used to be the evening ones, like Dallas,Knots Landing and Dynasty. The Gates is on ABC at 10pm EST.

Do you have a favorite TV show for this season?

Here are the links to items mentioned:
Wednesday Photo's of trip
Auntie E's On the Go
The Expendables review
The Recipes
The Gates

Wordless Wednesday-NSL Vacation

Interested in Wordless Wednesday visit

Wordless Wednesday Headquarter
To link up

you can also visit, Seven Clown Circus for Wordful Wednesday.

We are still on our Northern Sun Loop (NSL) vacation.
Here are some sights so far.

Our Family Reunion

Hubby's town Fish Hatchery
Can you guess what kind of fish this is? There are two here.

Presque Isle-Critter Skipping stones

Niagara Falls, Canada
Horseshoe fallsWe are still in Canada at the present time.
Will be headed to the American side to visit the Falls on that side soon.
More exciting days ahead for us.

Monday News- NSL On Vacation

We left on Friday headed for Hubby's hometown. The trip wasn't too bad. Critter is with us on this Northern Sun Loop ( NSL )trip. Traveling with a 6 year old and a 16 year old is very interesting. sometimes the16 yo wants to be treated as a 6 year old. Of course being Auntie E ,I have to spoil Crittter. Now there are many parks in this town so, we had to visit all of them. I think my 16 years old had just as much fun as critter did.
Our trip took about 8 hours. There was entertainment in the car. videos, cartoons and music. When we arrived at the Bed & Breakfast about 4 o'clock pm. It was great to see Peggy the owner. We haven't seen her in about 10 years. Last year she was booked so we stayed at a different B&B. We got two rooms this time and it was great. The kids in one and hubby and I alone. although the kids loved being in our room.
The Family reunion was on Saturday. We were able to see some folks whom I never met and hubby hasn't seen since he was a tot. It was nice to see them all. Critter had fun riding bikes and playing in the sand. The whole day was really spent with family, laughing and carrying on. Next year is hubbys 40th highschool reunion as well as the 150 year town celebration. That should very interesting, Had to make reservation now for that, due to the limited space in this small town.

On Sunday our plan was to go to Findley lake. I had never been there. However first a trip to the Fish hatchery. Last time we visit there was before we had Lyd, it was really fun. Finley Lake, as in the name, it is just a lake with a very tiny town snuggled around the Lake. Ate at the Blue Heron, food was good. There was some shops so we had to stop in. Prices were remarkably low so I purchased several things for Thanksgiving and Christmas, all for under 25 dollar total! We came back and visited some family.

Today we are off to Canada, a two hour drive. On today's agenda, visiting the Power plant, a nature park and check into the hotel. We want to take a helicopter tour of the falls at some point.

How was your Weekend? Getting ready for school to start?

My Favorite Song Weekend- Family recalls

Hubby remembers his mom singing this song to him. I sang it to my niece, hubby and daughter. It was a big hit in the theaters in it's time. Came from the Broadway show "Guys and Dolls". A classic even in today's time. I remember watching it in the theaters, at the movies and at School performance. Even preformed in it at my high school. We had a record that I played at home in the 60's, over and over again.
It opening November the 4th 1950 on Broadway. Won 5 Tony awards the following year. Guys and Dolls is still running in the theaters throughout the land. I think this song is the one most sung in the homes to our children. I am always humming it in my mind.
I love Doris Day, So I thought of using her voice for the song. You see many folks sang it even the Veggie Tales sang it.

Aloha Friday-And We're off

So today is the day we leave for a Northern Sun Loop vacation. I know we waited til August this time for a major one. We will be near Erie tonight for the family reunion tomorrow. We started them last year. Hubby's families kids are growing up and in this world of family spread out across the country it is easy to loose track of folks. I should try to do this for my Family. I haven't seen some of them for a couple years. However my family is relatively small. Now hubby comes from a large family and each child had on average 3 children. All those children are grown and some have kids and their kids have kids, making for a large family reunion.
You can see a photo of Hubby's Family Here.
Now my question to you;

• Do you have family reunions and how often are they?
• Now if you don't Would you consider hosting the first one?

to view more Aloha Friday questions visit An Island Life

Wordless Wednesday- CountyFair Entries

Interested in Wordless Wednesday visit

Wordless Wednesday Headquarter
To link up


So my daughter entered these photo in our County Fair.
No editing allowed!

Squirrel from Colorado River Rafting

California shore line
Out of the airplane view
This one you must enlarge to see the beauty of it!
Eastern Shore Beauty


One more she did not entered because of the darkness it did not show well on photo paper. Because not editing we could not lighten it for the printing. However we all think it is just beautiful.

Maryland Sunset

Please link up here.

Ruby Tuesday- At the Fair

To see more Tuesday Rubies travel over to Work of the Poet Mary has a link there where you can view more Rubies.

Today rubies are from our County Fair.

The Entertainment-
The King Street Bluegrass Band

Everyone needs to see the Clown.

The Midway....Fair Food

Monday's News-First times and A County Fair

Our County Fair started over the weekend. My daughter informed us she wanted to enter some photographs this year. So on Friday we went to the Fairgrounds to enter four Photos. Oh that brought back old days for me. When I was about nine and in the 4H club. We would go to the county fairs and enter stuff in the 4H tent to be judged. What great memories that was. I will have to look for some photos of that time at Dads next time I visit.

Saturday was a day of firsts. The first day of this years County Fair and it was the first time my daughter mowed our lawn. For over Eight years I have had a young boy, who is now a young man, mowing my lawn. He started when he was in High school, his father started him at 17 so he could earn some money. Now he is out of college and has a great government job. He still mowed our yard until Saturday. If you have visited my garden site, you know we have a great sliding hill in the back yard. It is a bear to mow! On Saturday our daughter mowed it and I will say she did a great job! So now I will pay her for the mowing. Chris will still do the trimming for now.

For the first time I posted the Nutritional values for a breakfast casserole and on my cooking blog. Breakfast casseroles are great for the weekend. I like to make them although I do not often. Had some turkey Sausage from the Amish Market so, decided to make one with it. Trying to keep healthier in my recipes. I found a site that i could put my recipe in and get the Nutritional values. Now it is sometime difficult to get a teen up before noon. Hubby went up and told her... Mom made a casserole for breakfast...she was up and sitting at the table in no time! Of course a picture had to be taken and then the table set and we were on our way to a healthy breakfast. You can find a link to the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Hubby and I went to the Movies. Saw "Inception" staring Leonardo DiCaprio, he is such a great actor. I know I have seen him in other movies but, he was really great in this one. Will be doing a review on my review site soon. I know we go to a lot of movies on the weekends. Are you wondering how we can do that with the prices so high? Well you see we purchase a Boosters Bargain Entertainment Book every year. These books raise money for school programs or charities. Their cost is only 25 dollars, that is a great price for a book full of coupons for meals, travel, sightseeing and entertainment. In the entertainment section there are coupons for a local theater which gives us free admission. With the cost of movies being 7 to 10 dollars a show, in this area, this makes the book a great buy. We do not miss out on the movies we want to see. This year we purchased 3 books. Two for our Maryland area and one for Northern Virginia and DC area. Between the dinning out and the movies we have really gotten our monies worth this year.

Sunday was Church in Virginia. We go to a large church in McLean. Didn't get to see the family due to their Work schedules. After church we went out to eat at Cheesecake Factory in Bethesda Virginia. It is a much smaller place then the one in our area. I had Misa Salmon, the lunch version. It was really good. Oh yes I had some cheese cake, Raspberry Lemon cream.
Later on that day we went to the County Fair. Picked up Lyds boyfriend and off to see the Fair. I will be posting some photos of it later this week, it will be Fair week on At Home with Auntie E. We had a great time there. More info about the our county fair in a link below.

How was your weekend, did you get to something you been looking forward to?

Links to items mention is article.
1.Breakfast Casserole
2.County Fair info
3. Inception -the Movie review

My Favorite Song Weekend- Mary Hopkin

Mary Hopkin sang this song in 1968. Although it was first sung by the Limeliters in the early 1960, Mary is the one who made it popular. Her voice was a perfect match for the song. So Prefect that it was recorded by her on the Beatles Apple Label. Became the number 1 hit in the UK singles hit and the number 2 hit on the US billboard hits 100 and stayed there for six weeks! Others have tried to sing it, but in my opinion can not match up to Mary Hopkin. Perhaps it is because I remember that time and the song just resonates in my head with Mary's voice. It's Russian style music makes ones heart throb and you can not help but dance. The Lyrics speak of a past that seems to be slipping away. Maybe the time was not that great but the memories were.

Aloha Friday-Back in time

Have you notice when you watch movies or listen to music, the tendency to travel back in time in your mind. I have notice my tendency to love the fifties and sixties era. I really do not know why that is, Guess it was just a time of youth and having no problems in the world. Fun times and great shows.
I remember going with my Mom to the Movie to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and to Highland Park to watch theater plays like, Madame Butterfly and A Midnight Summer Dream. Meeting my friends there and having a great time. I just think it is great to have memories like that.
So here's your Question;
What time era do you have fond Memories of and can you tell me one?
to see more aloha Friday visit An Island Life.

Wordless Wednesday-Traveling back through time

Interested in Wordless Wednesday visit

Wordless Wednesday Headquarter
To link up

I purchased this old Travel clock.
It's leather, reminds me of my old traveling days.
No Batteries needed!

I had a inscription engraved on top.

When I want to travel I put it out.
Now all the family know it's...

Where are we traveling to...Check it out "Northern Sun Loop"

This link is for WW participants only, all spam will be deleted.

Ruby Tuesday and Wordful Wednesday

For Ruby Tuesday visit, Work of the Poet. For WW visit Seven Clown Circus

We have a ruby of a trip coming up. This year our trips are in August. Some time ago I had a name our trip contest, Sandy of Traveling suitcase won. She received a 25.00 visa gift card. That was a fun way to choose a name. The Name is "Northern Sun Loop", we chose this because we were going to head north and then Loop back home. Our plan this time is to drive ourselves. Critter is going with us, so I think we will have a blast. Let's see a six year old, a sixteen years old and two Middle aged( if you live til 100)people.

Now here is the Icon you will see for all our
"Northern Sun Loop"
post.

If you follow on Facebook you will see it,
then you will know it's a vacation Post.

So where are we going.....

First, stop Erie Pennsylvania area for a Family reunion.

This is last years reunion photo.Passport cards in hand so .....

onto Niagara Falls,Canada.
About a two hour drive from the reunion.

Maybe we will see this little guy there

Oh we have this planned.....

Third is to see a friend from my past.
Katie from this photo.
She is a family friend from the 60's.
Her and her husband have a Mission in Upstate New York.
I haven't seen them since the 70's


Fourth, to the Poconos for some R&R

An Indoor water park and Lodge.
Some down time just to lay back and swim.
On our way back home we will stop at a surprise Location. I love to make this plan and not tell anyone. It's just a little something for them to bug me about.

some photo's courtesy of Great Wolf Lodge and See and Explore Tours