Posted in Sunday Report

Birthdays

Last week was uneventful here at Sonnystone Acres, spent watching the snow melt… Casey tried to outsmart Twitch, the flying squirrel, and the jury is still out on who won the skirmish.

Upcoming this week: Eliza Belle Mayne Jose’ will turn 14 on the 21st and Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose’ will be 19 on the 24th. Eliza is in the 8th grade at Avenues and continues her Irish Dance instruction at Doherty-Petri. Emma is starting her second semester at Colgate University and she, too, has continued her Irish dancing. Both girls are consistently at the top of their competitions and are World qualifiers. More than just dancers, they are good students and decent people, and I’m so proud of them.

In their honor, here’s a recycle of last year’s tribute.

The Wheel of the Year

Posted on  

The wheel is turning and we can’t slow down… My New York Irish Dancer grand-daughters both had birthdays last week. Eliza, my #3 grandie, turned 13 on the 21st; Emma, my #1 grandie, turned 18 on the 24th. I am a little dizzy thinking about how the time has flown. They are gems in my crown and their futures look so bright that I gotta wear shades…

My #1 and #3 grandies,

Eliza and Emma, 2024

Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose: 


Eliza Belle Mayne Jose: 


Three more days of cold and we’ll moderate into “normal” winter temperatures around 40–it will feel tropical! Hope it’s thawing in your neck of the woods.

Peace

Posted in Birthdays, Special Edition

Happy Birthday, dear #4!

Today is the Number Nine birthday of Samantha Lynn Mayne Casey and I am More than nine years grateful that she was born. She is the only grandie who was born in Evansville and who, therefore, I have been able to spoil on an every-day basis all of her life. It has been a joy. I asked her the other day if she would stop visiting me every week when she gets older (like her Sissy) and she replied, “Probably”. Truth there, as even a Spectacular Jojo takes a backseat when adolescence takes the wheel, but for now we still play, even riding our magic carpets every so once in a while, so I hang on to every moment I get.

We celebrated “our” birthday on Monday at Gattitown. I really enjoy that place and the food is pretty good. Michael and Jess came along, though Jess had to leave and get back to work. Nova and Aiden, aka Shark, joined in the fun.

Samantha will be back tomorrow for her usual Friday Night Sleepover and Saturday JAM piano lesson and we’ll turn our minds to our upcoming Disney trip.

Oh, I sort of passed my stress test –at least I didn’t drop dead. I’ll tell you all about it in my Sunday Report. Until then,

Peace

Posted in Sunday Report

The Wheel of the Year

The wheel is turning and we can’t slow down… My New York Irish Dancer grand-daughters both had birthdays last week. Eliza, my #3 grandie, turned 13 on the 21st; Emma, my #1 grandie, turned 18 on the 24th. I am a little dizzy thinking about how the time has flown. They are gems in my crown and their futures look so bright that I gotta wear shades…

My #1 and #3 grandies,

Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose: 

Eliza Belle Mayne Jose: 

The old seasonal celebrations, passed down from ancient times, inform us that we will be celebrating the half-way mark of winter this week. Nearly every ancient culture divided the year into four parts marked by the Winter Solstice, the Vernal Equinox, the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox. Today, we still recognize these as demarcating our seasons. Our ancestors further divided the year at the halfway points between the solstices and the equinoxes. These divisions are the Cross Quarter Days: Feb. 2, May 1, Aug. 1 and Oct. 31. You probably recognize those Cross Quarter Days as Groundhog Day, May Day, and Halloween, though August first is usually just another hot day in Southern Indiana…

The ancients did not call it Groundhog Day, though I’m sure they would have loved the movie; they called it Imbolc. Punxsutawney Phil’s emergence may advise us whether we celebrate only 6 more weeks until Spring, or commiserate 6 more weeks of winter, but I’m going to celebrate the three hours of daylight we have added since that shortest day on December 23. This winter has been foggy and gloomy lately, and we need a little perking up. Folks of yore sure did like their bonfires and we’re going to stir one up this week. The temperatures are predicted to be balmy and I’ll be happy to get outside…verrry happpy to go outside. 

The toe is healed, I’m getting around like a champ, and I’m ready for my own birthday month. The Jubilee Year wasn’t quite up to snuff for me, so I’m considering making them all a Jubilee. How ’bout it? Let’s dance… I’ve got plenty of room on my dance card…

Peace

Posted in 2022, Birthdays, Weekly Wrap-Up

Let the Wild Rumpus begin!

Birthday Week started off Grandly yesterday with Miss Samantha and me making Wishes as we blew out our Encanto candles.

Today we’re cruising through Georgia — even Atlanta — on our way to celebrate with Mickey and the gang.

It’s been 2 years since my last Birthday trip to WDW and so much has changed and then changed again.

One thing is certain: we’re gonna have a Good Time! I will be reporting in all week, so stay tuned.

Peace

Posted in 2020, Weekly Wrap-Up, Winter at Sonnystone

Birthdays and Birds

It was Birthday Week at the Jose’ Casa in NYC!  My #1 and #3 grandies celebrated Numbers 9 and 14!  Oh, those girls!  My heart just overflows…

Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose’ is in the 8th grade at Towne., where she was awarded the part of Rafiki in “Lion King” (ever heard of it?).  She can sing, she can dance (top Irish Dancer), but more importantly, she is seriously a sweet young lady, kind and caring.

Eliza Belle Mayne Jose’ is in the 3rd grade at Avenues: The World School, where she has started piano lessons.  This summer she started right in picking out tunes and I wonder if she might have the old “playing by ear” thing that my grandmother had.  She’s a Super Irish Dancer, loves to skateboard, and is just generally a funny, loving little girl.

Obviously, I love these babies.  I’m hoping to be in NYC in April for the “Lion King” and I Know I’ll be there in June for Emma’s graduation.

We had the Jr. girls for a couple of days earlier this week, requiring me to wake up at 5am…I”m proud to say that I still have my miraculous inner alarm and was able to wake myself when my outer alarms failed to alarm.  It’s kinda fun to get up in the dark and hear the birds singing a prelude to sunrise.

We’ve got so many birds visiting the feeders that we decided to add another suet.  We had two finch feeders out,  and in years past they’ve been covered with upside-down and downside-up little birds, but I’ve spotted just one molty goldfinch in the last month.  I hope they’ve just found somewhere else to feed.  The suet has been a real draw for woodpeckers.  We’ve seen hairy and downy, both male and female, and even an awkward red-bellied woodpecker that also feeds at the houses.  The indigo buntings seem to favor it over fighting at the houses, too.

The dreaded root canal is Wednesday.  I’ll be fine.  Thank goodness the tooth is still hurting just a tinge, or I’d probably back out.  I’ve got plenty going on over at the ancestry blog, posting on Mondays and Thursdays until I finish.   You’re welcome to visit…All My Ancestors.

Peace