When I think of “gathering” the kitchen pops into my head, as that always seemed the place where everyone ended up when I was growing up. It was where the delicious smells emanated from, or the extra bottle of wine could be found, or where conversation you didn’t necessarily want to share with everyone was taking place. The big “gathering” was taking place in the living room or dining room, but the cozy gatherings were going on in the kitchen.
These three benches stand outside The Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
The Great Auditorium is the meeting hall where Sunday services are held. It holds 7000 people. My husband stopped to read the inscriptions on the benches….
Here is what they said
I worked as a dog walker a few years ago, and after taking Maggie out for a walk I would play with her in the house. It was summertime so I would often take my shoes off. Inevitably she would grab one of my shoes and make off with it, even though the shoe was almost bigger than she was. So naughty of her
Eventually she would wear herself out and take a break for a selfie that I would send her mom to let her know I had come and all was good. So nice.
Just had to share this post from one of my blogging friends, made me smile ear to ear
Boardwalk shrouded in early morning fog
The Endless Beach Ahead
Paula at Lost In Translation says: For today’s TS I am challenging you to post a photo with a backlit subject.
Backlight photography emphasizes shapes so you will want to look for subjects with strong silhouettes.
I am always drawn to a beautiful sunset
Tell us your funniest relationship disaster story.
Looking back, I still can’t find the humor in a relationship disaster story. I did have some really bad dates, which I would not consider “relationships”, but will share one here anyway. It happened over 25 years ago but will be forever ingrained in my memory.
My date shows up at my apartment, I open the door to find the person standing there is shorter than me, and I am only 5′ 2″. First thought that runs through my mind is I am going to kill the person that set us up who told me “he isn’t that short, and you’re short anyway, so I’m sure it will be ok.” I invite him in while I get my coat and he is visually taking in my apartment and asks, “You live alone?” (The alone was said in an incredulous manner) Uh, yes, thinking to myself, I’m 31, not so strange. But I reply with, ” Yes, I do.” He then asks, “Who cooks for you?” At which point I am ready to take off my coat and tell him the date is over. Who cooks for me???? What planet was this guy living on? Maybe his mother was still cooking for him, I don’t know. We get in the car and the guy proceeds to drive recklessly and well over the speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic for the next half hour. We go to a small restaurant, where he decides we should just order a drink and appetizer. I have no recollection of any conversation except when we finished our appetizers he asked for the check and then proceeded to ask me to pay for my half. In retrospect it is kind of funny in a crazy way, and makes me thankful everyday for my husband having rescued me from more disasters like this.
This week Ailsa has chosen Fabric as the subject of her challenge. I learned how to quilt many years ago and as any quilter will tell you, fabric collecting can become an obsession. There is always that “next” project to work on that you just may need that perfect blue to go with that fabulous red you have at home. Scale of the pattern on the fabric comes into play too, using similar patterns in one scale or mixing them up.
This was fun fabric I found with the word Moo all over it
It seemed only natural to set out in making a wall hanging with…. what else but cows!
Sailboats were another favorite pattern of mine, I would make baby quilts for my friends. In this one I used fabric with fish on it for the backing, in keeping with the sailboat theme.
here, anchors
and finally sailboats!
The temperatures here in the Northeastern United States have been “unseasonably warm” this year. I don’t know the reason and it really doesn’t matter- I am clicking my heels together everyday about it and though sorry I haven’t been able to pull out the wool turtlenecks I love, I am not that sorry. My husband and I headed down to the New Jersey shore for a quick overnight stay, and drank in the sunshine and warmth. Come join us and feel the warmth too!
For the month of December Jude over at Travel Words says: you can choose any bench you like.
These were spotted on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
A view of the Ocean, a view of the sights on the Boardwalk
Nancy Merrill says:
We all come from somewhere. We all have people we consider family, whether blood kin or chosen kin. The holidays are a time when we connect or reconnect with family and friends who make up our support systems, and extended family becomes very important. I hope that this holiday seasons brings you and your families great joy and closeness, no matter which holidays you are celebrating.
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT FEATURE THE PEOPLE IN YOUR EXTENDED FAMILY, BLOOD RELATION OR NOT.
Wait… Do I have the lens facing me for a selfie or not?
Wait…was that the shutter on my camera I just heard taking a shot of my hand carrying my phone?
Wait.. where’s the camera lens on the phone again? Where do we look? Maybe if we squint we’ll locate it
Eye on the prize
You talking to me?
This week’s Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge topic is Starts with the Letters B or W. Cee decided to literally use the letters of black “B” and white “W” for this week’s topic. So the main focus of our photo must start with the letter B or W.
Bridge
or Bride
or a Bird by the Water 
with Webbed Feet
Daily Prompt: Life Line: You’re on a long flight, and a palm reader sitting next to you insists she reads your palm. You hesitate, but agree. What does she tell you?
I have small hands. They are small but strong- they are good at baking and rolling out dough, they know how to embroider, crochet and knit. They strum and pluck the strings on the guitar, they play the piano, they are always there to give a pat or to hold. I use them to create letters and words in Sign Language, when they become tools of speech.
I love you in American Sign Language
As I have aged they have become more and more riddled with what my grandmother called “liver spots” from all those years of taking the sun. They have always been wrinkled, it bothered me when I was in my 20’s, but now I have grown into them. The veins stand out prominently and I was told once that they looked like “working hands” which I took as a compliment though that is not how it was intended.
My palms have an inordinate amount of wrinkles- far more than any of my friends.
When I was in my twenties I had my palm read. When the Palm Reader turned my hand over she did not utter a word. I asked her what it meant that my palm was so lined. She looked up at me and replied, “It is because you have lived many lives my dear.” She then went on to tell me what my palm told her about who I was, and was spot on about many things, without having asked me any questions about myself beforehand. Years later I read that the cause of an overly wrinkled palm could come from clenching the fists very tightly while in the womb- but I prefer to stick with what the Palm Reader told me those many years ago.
Cee tells us: For some reason, an off-center picture is more pleasing to us. It looks more natural. I have attempted to use photos from my visit to the beach this past summer that use the “rule of thirds” but could use some more tips from Cee as I am a newbie to photo taking! 
Metal and Wood seen at The Steuben House, which served as a military headquarters through much of the Revolutionary War. General George Washington made it his headquarters, September 4 to 17, 1780. Following the war, it was given to Major General Baron von Steuben, who occupied it from 1783 to 1788. The current Draw Bridge at New Bridge was built in 1888. The house and bridge are located near the town I live in and I have visited it many times since I was a child, crossing this metal and wood bridge on foot.
This year I started working a full day in the school where I am an assistant teacher, which meant eating lunch in school. At the beginning of the year some of the other assistant teachers invited me to join them for lunch, they eat in an empty classroom in school. They are all my age, women in our 50’s. They have all worked in the school longer than I have, 8 or 10 years and one woman over 20 years. The conversation during lunch most often focused on some injustice that one of them had suffered at the hands of the head teacher, or some policy in the school they were disgruntled about. To say it was a negative environment is an understatement. I usually left with a case of indigestion and in a bad mood, and sometimes was even sucked into the complaining, jumping on that bandwagon. Finally one of the malcontents pushed me over the edge, and I told her I could no longer allow myself to be in such a toxic environment, with such conversations and the constant focus on minding everyone else’s business. I was done.
I found a room down the hall, which it turned out was where a group of assistants also ate lunch, but these were girls in their early 20’s. What a difference. No complaints, no talking about others, instead our conversations revolve around an upcoming marriage of one, the upcoming birth of a baby for another, and the world of dating foibles one girl is experiencing. There are discussions about recipes, what boots are on sale where, and a genuine interest in the good (or the bad) that may be going on in one another’s lives.
I am older than the mother’s of some of these girls, but they share with me and I with them as if we are contemporaries. I am glad to be part of this lunch group, but it has also given me pause: though I may feel I am “one of them”, when I listen to them speak of their futures that lay before them, I am struck by the reality that just as they have so much of life ahead of them, I have lived so much of my life and have it behind me. It makes me think back to where I was when I was 21, not knowing what was to come, now looking back like watching a movie, my first car, my own apartment, a failed relationship, school, a job, meeting my husband, marriage, a step daughter, buying a house, a new career path, weddings and funerals, and on and on. Inside my head I am still in my 20’s, but the lines under my eyes and gravity wreaking havoc with my face, say otherwise. My friends who are my age have the same “reference points” that I have- we have grown up together, kept the same pace with milestones we have reached, experiencing similar things and changes as we have grown older. They, like me, feel years younger mentally, but in truth we have 37 years of experiences since the age of 21. Sometimes I fall silent during our lunchtime discussions, thinking back to how it felt to turn the key and open the door to my first apartment, the excitement when I became engaged to my husband, the images still so clear in my mind’s eye, but so very long ago. Years before these girls were born. It makes me wistful, while at the same time being thankful for the many experiences I have had and the people in my life I have shared those experiences with.
These new found “friendships” have been a welcome addition to my life at this stage, keeping me “in the loop” of a younger world, making me feel younger in some ways, and much, much older in others. The contrast great between the person I was, I became, and now am.
Me on my 21st birthday
Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack has asked for us to show her our interpretation of “Self”- prompted by her noticing so many people out and about with selfie sticks.
I love walking in nature, watching and listening to the birds, drinking in the beauty around me. A big part of “self” for me.
My best friend whom I have known since we were 12 is very much a part of my “self”
And my better half, my husband, my-self
We love to take selfies wherever we go
This sheep eyed me and I caught her with her mouth open as she was watching me, and then with it closed, I couldn’t resist making the two photos into a gif!
This week’s topic is Buildings and Trees. Any building and any tree as long as they are in the same photo.
Some New York City Landmarks for Paula at Lost in Translation this Sunday
The Chrysler Building
The Empire State Building
and a Lady who needs no introduction
A Day In The Life 
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