Category: ThrowbackThursday

We did an awesome mother/daughter girls weekend! We visited Longwood Gardens and then the next day we went to the Philly Flower Show.

The weather was hot, but we still had a wonderful time seeing all the flowers and gardens at the two locations. On Saturday we had a lovely lunch at the Chadds Ford Tavern and dinner at Il Granaio! Highly recommend both places if you’re in the area.

Sunday was all action day after we drove to FDR Park for the Philly Flower Show. This was the first time it’s been held outdoors since it’s normally at the Convention Center. Very different and I’m torn as to whether I prefer the indoor setting.

It was definitely great to be outdoors, but there were fewer of the big garden displays that they used to have indoors.

Regardless, we had a wonderful time and would definitely go again.

Here are some photos from our trip!

Hubby proposed to me at the Milleridge Inn and so it seemed natural that we have our wedding reception there. We had a small wedding, but the inn did a fabulous job of making it special.

When we heard that the property had been sold and the inn might be closing, we had to stop and have a meal there during a trip to Long Island. Of course, we had to stop and take this photo as well to commemorate the occasion!

I’ve mentioned that I wrote a lot of my romance novels on the train while commuting to and from work. But I also had to do a lot of writing on the weekends and because I spent so much time at a desk for my job, I opted for either writing on my couch or on the balcony during nice summer days.

Now that I’ve retired and I’m writing full-time, I still don’t sit at a desk. I’ve got a nice comfy futon in my office and a balcony during the summer months. Today I’m sharing a picture of my office. I’ve got lots of things as you can see, including so many wonderful gifts from some of you! I treasure them.

I’ll share a photo of my “balcony office” when it’s a little warmer and my flowers are blooming!

This is what my office looked like before I retired. It seems hard to believe it’s been over a year since I left my legal career to write full-time, but I’m not looking back for a second. I am enjoying spending more time writing and with my family and friends.

Some things haven’t changed. I still get up at 6ish. I guess after so many years of that schedule it’s hard to break even after a year. That gives me a lot of time to write before I head out to do whatever I want. Shop. Bowl. Garden. Build things. Take a stroll along the boardwalk.

When the weather gets a little warmer, I’m looking forward to heading to the beach and spending some time tucked under the umbrella and reading a good book.

While my retirement has changed my life in a lot of ways, I know that many of you have had your lives affected by this pandemic. What have you been doing? Please take a moment to share.

We had a mom cat and her kitten visit the deck at our old house and we gave them some food. Needless to say, they became regulars. Eventually, they went away, but then one of them returned with another cat and before you know it, there was a little kitten family. Sadly, some of the kittens didn’t make it, but three of them did, including our little fur baby Slate. At one point they had actually left Slate at our back door, but then came and took him back. When the kittens were older and eating hard food, we know we would take one in since my daughter had taken her cat with her when she moved out. There was no doubt in our minds it would be Slate and one night I found him tucked into one of our flower pots, sleeping alone. I picked him up, wrapped him in a towel, and he was totally cool with that. In no time he was trained and part of the household.

Slate is a really friendly, intelligent, and laid-back cat. I guess that’s why we can buy him Christmas outfits and he doesn’t complain. This was this year’s outfit where Santa helped us out by being Santa!

P.S. – If you want to contribute to a good cause, we love the Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter where we got my daughter’s cat and Rescue Ridge which fosters animals.