We have had the best weather during this past week. We had record lows earlier in the week...and it was wonderful! Waking up to temperatures in the upper 40's in late April...doesn't happen very often in Indialantic! The days have been sunny, breezy and there's hardly a cloud in the sky.

Taking Kiena for a walk...I had to snap a couple of photos. Love the way the morning light is shining on the flowers and trees.

I'm enjoying the morning before I head in to work this afternoon.

This weekend should be a bit warmer...but just as nice; and that's a good thing because it's time for the annual Melbourne Art Festival. David is in the show this year...so that means I have a spot to camp out and watch everyone going by! haha Then Sunday, John and I are heading over to Orlando to see The Lion King. I've seen it (with Megan) but John has not...so I'm looking forward to seeing it with him. I love the costumes!...like giant puppets....

Earlier in the week we had dinner at the Roy's house. Mike's friend is back in town...from Pittsburgh, and they've been out fishing all week/ last weekend. Mike cooked up some mahi mahi, his lobster casserole, and there was some smoked fish dip. Chris made some coconut shrimp...freshly toasted coconut and freshly caught shrimp...that was my favorite thing I ate!

Enjoying the back yard and the nice weather.

and the friends.

Art Party

First of all let me say I downloaded these pictures in the order that I wanted them...however the computer rearranged them...I don't know why sometimes it keeps them in the order I want...sometimes it doesn't...

Last night my brother David had an art party at a friends house. Chris M. works with Bridget and he often hosts events and fundraisers at his home. It's not a huge house...but it has a great kitchen and back porch, pool area and bar and summer kitchen. Pretty nice set up for parties. There were probably 50-75 people there at any given time, as well as boxes full of prints and art work...and there was plenty of room to get around. I guess Chris had mentioned several times that they should have a party at his place...and this time David took him up on it. It was a strange weekend as far as the weather goes...reports were calling for 100% percipitation...and we had bad thunderstorms and lots of rain Friday night...but yesterday was quiet all day/night....until after midnight. Actually the cloud cover cooled things down and made it rather pleasant. The house would have held everyone comfortably...but the porch/pool area certainly was nice...and people enjoyed being out there.

Some of Bridget's co-workers were there...including Richard in the first photo...who not only works with Bridget...but also worked with my mother for many years. He knew Bridget and David for several years before he realized that "Doris" was David's mother. He also works with a friend we grew up with on Oak Ridge Drive...Roberta Van Dusen. He never knew they all knew each other! It's a small world!

Bridget and I were snapping photos. In this one David's friend Kim (his first girlfriend in high school), Bridget, Kim's husband Bert and Kim's mother (who still loves David)all groaned when the flash went off. All four of them at the same time..".Agggh...you need to take another one...we weren't ready." It was funny. The one above it...including me...was the one we took next...Destin took it for us.

Brenna and her friend Josh, who helped her move all her stuff down to Florida. He is a nice guy...and a computer "geek" "guru"...whatever you want to call him. As soon as we walked through the door...David snagged him...to troubleshoot a problem he was having with his I-pad app used to process credit cards...Josh was more than willing to take on the challenge..and several minutes later...between Josh and Brenna...they had things up and running. David finally relaxed! I have to give the guy credit...two days ago he didn't know any of us...except Brenna....but he walked right in and just like that he fit right in.

David's neighbors who often take Maisy out for walks with their two dachshunds

...Bill, Jill and her sister, Charla. They have known David for years...their parents lived across the street...before Jill and Bill moved in.

At one ponit durint the evening Chris organized a group around the pool table for some sort of dice game. Everyone pitched in a specified amount of money and then from what I gathered...you rolled the dice. Depending on what you rolled.... determined whether the dice were to be passed to the person on your left or your right. after a certain amount of time one person would win the whole "pot"....with the idea that they were to use it to buy a piece of art work from David. Clever! and fun! Bridget taking pictures.

Destin and her friend Julian. We had a lot of laughs.

Chris the guy who hosted the party...in his kitchen. He was making Mojitos...and there was a selection of wines and beers, soda and water. something for everyone.

He made this solid ice bowl for the shrimp and cocktail sauce...then almost forgot to put them out. He also had pizza dough readily made and available for anyone who wanted to make their own pizza. The counter had a whole selection of toppings(mushrooms, peppers, onions, pineapple, chicken to name a few) to choose from...you rolled your dough, put on what you wanted then brought it out to the oven on the porch to cook it. Yum! He also had assorted chips and candies and homemade bruschetta that he was passing around. It was really very nice!

Some things I like

I recently spotted these books coming across the desk. I like these quirky illustrations....and it's kind of fun because all the lines are raised up so you can feel them. You can have fun moving your finger(s) along the wiggly lines.

Tom's Tweet is one I may use with the 1st graders. It's a little too long for a Story time group...especially if they are restless...hahah It is a rhyming book, which I always like...but it's also got a lot of words you don't hear everyday. Tom the cat is out hunting for breakfast when he comes across a little bird. He's all ready to eat but... "Dadburn it! said Tom "You're too skinny to eat. Why your nothing but feather and bone." He started to leave...but the shivering tweet looked so frightened. Unhappy. Alone. .... and it goes on like that.Turns out Tom is a "softie" and Mama Cat puts him to work. Cute! The next one caught my eye because I have a thing for Alphabet books. I don't know why...but I like prints, books etc with letters of the Alphabet on them. Ask my kids... This is about some alphabet peas (first I thought they were ants...) who work and play with the ABC's.Each picture shows them do letter related jobs and/or activities. It's kind of fun. I like the details.

This book by Taback is so cute! I LOVE the colorful illustrations and the kids enjoyed "guessing" what animal was going to appear next.

I liked the way the picture appeared one section at a time. I joked with the kids...when it was obviously a cat...I'd say...maybe it's a horse, etc. They laughed.

The author has several books like this...Dianne and I decided right away that we "needed" all of them!

Next week...................chickens!

Random thoughts

I don't have my latest pictures on the computer yet...so this is a totally random post. 1.Someone came in the library today and she was just as pleasant as can be...but I have to tell you it's hard to take someone seriously when they are wearing a big floppy hat with a bow on either side and a giant feather ( from a seagull...I think) sticking straight up in the air. I kept waiting for her to lift off....hehehe it's almost like someone with a really bad toupee...you just don't know where to look to keep from laughing out loud... 2. Funerals are not fun...but a difficult time can be so much better when family and friends gather and celebrate the life of the loved one who has died. The last two funerals I have attended were both celebrations of life...and so nice. That's the kind of "send-off " I want to have. 3. Funerals are also a time when you find yourself reconnecting with old friends and neighbors. I saw some people yesterday that I don't think I've seen for 20 years...but once we started talking... it felt like I had just seen them last week. Others I don't see often enough...life keeps us all busy and so even though we were at a funeral...we found ourselves laughing at some of the old memories...which I believe is exactly what Barbara would have liked us all to be doing. It was a sad day but a lovely day. 4. Being at the funeral yesterday reminded me that it was not that long ago when we were saying "good-bye" to my sister Jenifer. When I think of the last few weeks of her life...I always think of it as one of the hardest things I have ever done...but also one of the best times of my life...because of the time we spent not just with Jen, but so many other wonderful people. I will never forget those last days...and the people who shared them with us. 5. Working at the library I see books and movies coming and going and it gives me ideas on what I want to read/see. Recently people have been checking out The West Wing...a show I used to love. I decided to reserve Season 4...and I'm so glad. I had to kind of guess which season I wanted to see most...and 4 did not disappoint. I wrapped up my viewing session yesterday...and now I can't wait to get season 5! People firing shots at the press room, Zoey getting kidnapped...I'm so glad I don't have to wait as long as I did back when the season ended and didn't come back on for a couple of months! Again...I really used to enjoy watching that show...it was so well done...I miss it. 6.This years Sport's Illustrated bathing suit edition...has the most ridiculous suit on it's cover. I feel like I sound like an old lady...but the thing barely covers the girl and I think it looks awful. She looks like she's popping out of the stupid thing...(which is probably exactly why she's featured on the cover)...but as they say on ESPN..."COME ON MAN!" There are a lot of nice bathing suits out there that I'm sure would look great on the young lady...without looking like she's trying so darn hard to be noticed. 7. I hurt my knee skiing...Dr. thinks I tore the ACL....I'll be going to have an MRI.....something I've never had done. The day I hurt my knee...one sister was in the hospital getting a knee replacement...another is going to be having the same surgery. Our friend Reid had had one knee done...will soon be going in for the second, my brother -in law (in law.... s-i-l husband)..haha) had his done and yesterday I found out an old friend just had hers done this past year. Which all makes me think...wow modern medicine is great...we will all be walking around good as new on our fixed up/replaced knees...for years to come...pain free. But..... I can't imagine what all these kids who do extreme sports, gymnastics, and year round soccer, etc are going to need done to their knees when they hit 50! And now...it's bedtime...so I'll quit rambling on.....

Easter weekend

We really didn't have any plans for this weekend...other than going to Sunrise Service on Easter. But...things happen and two last minute invitations came along and made for a fun weekend. Saturday night we ended up joining the Lawson's for dinner at Meg O'Malleys.
Jordan's birthday is next week...and they were celebrating early. Since John is her Godfather...we always try to remember her birthday in some way...and enjoyed having dinner with her.
Then we got up at 5:30am to get ready for the sunrise mass. No mass in Melbourne Beach this year...so we headed up to Canova Beach for Holy Name's mass.
From the road you might be fooled into thinking there weren't that many people in attendance...but if you happened to take a peek down at the beach there were thousands of people. This picture is a little blurry (I didn't take it...hahaa)but there were people sitting from the edge of the water all the way to the dune line.. up and down from Canova Beach Park.(...some of the people near the water got wet as the tide started coming in.)
Yesterday we got a call from Maureen Hogg...her daughter Elaine and Mrs. Fiore decided we needed to revive the Easter morning after mass brunch. For years the Spino family hosted it...until health issues interfered. Last year was the first time there was NO brunch...this year it was just like old times, only at the Hogg's. Good food, good friends and just like one big happy family.This is one of the few pictures I took...of Beth Spino and John. I didn't take too many photos I was too busy talking...haha John was getting over a bad cold...so we didn't stay too long...but long enough to sneak a look at some of the hidden Easter eggs.

Happy Easter!