My Winter Wonderland!

I consider a day like this a photographer's dream come
true. This is a small pond off Yellowbank Road.

The main road entering Cattus Island Park, Toms River.

Such a delight!

Pristine Snowfall.

A boatyard off Fischer Blvd.

A new day has dawned!

Into the woods near Bill's house in Brick, NJ

I loved capturing the sun through the branches.

Amazing how so much snow accumulated on these branches.

Road in the woods.

Gotta love that "Montana" blue sky in the background.

Had to include at least one artsy fartsy picture!

Ducks in the lagoon.

Frozen fish pond with remnants of last
year's tomato plants in the foreground

This was taken from Bill's new office window. I could
have gone on for hours taking pictures, but the winds
began to blow and the snow was soon whisked off the branches.

Music in the Valley

Every January there is a church music conference held in
Hanover, PA. This was the first time Bill and I were able
to attend. I am here with one of the finest composers, Joseph
Martin. His music is awesome and he is most inspiring as
a top notch clinician.

This is the window in the front of St. Matthew Lutheran
Church where Music in the Valley is held every year.
It was so thrilling to read through music for almost six hours
and having 600 or more church musicians singing new releases.
It was definitely a renewing time for me.

The rose window at St. Matthew Lutheran Church.

Upon Nick Bravata's suggestion, we did stop at the
Utz outlet store before we left Hanover. Yes,
Nick works for Utz and is a tenor in my Sanctuary Choir.

Bill is showing off his recent purchase from Utz.

Unfortunately, my Eagles lost the NFC championship game.

Bill was kind enough to work his way down to the
Susquehanna River so I could take a few pictures
of the partially frozen river.

I was intrigued to see how some parts of the river froze
and other parts did not.

This was taken from the Route 30 bridge out
the window while Bill was driving. I had a lot
of fun doing this!

Christmas Day 2008

Suzanne, Donna's cousin, is enjoying a relaxing
moment Christmas Day at my house. See the little bag just
off to the left? Can you believe she brought
Donna some Elf Poop?!?!

Donna and Donna!
No, it is not a law firm, but my daughter
and my sister.

Bill is savoring some of his "private stock", also known
as Taylor Pink Catawba. After playing so many Christmas
services the man deserves a good glass of wine.

My gift of a Yankees fleece jacket is apparently a hit
with Donna. The White Sox hat is just a joke. She is
a true Yankees fan all the way.

New Wildlife Room at Bill's

Bill has been working diligently for several months painting,
putting up borders and making this Wildlife Room at his
house a very comfortable place for me to sleep when I
need some rest and quiet from two jobs.

Here you see Poncho Squirrel with two duck friends
sitting on the bed. Behind is a sample of the wildlife
border. The scenes remind me of Yellowstone National Park.

Bill joins his group of friends for a photo op!

So clever! Bill was able to take two corner shelves to
create a shelf next to the bed to hold the electric
blanket control, my glasses and watch.

The top border seen here is a combination of pine cones
and boughs. You can see one of many hand made
afghans Bill has displayed on an oak rack. Bill
is still waiting for the head board for the bed to
be delivered. It will be absolutely perfect!!

New Christmas Tree

After waiting nearly a year since I purchased the Christmas
tree at Target on clearance, I finally got it up a few days ago.
It only took me all day and all evening until the wee hours
of the next morning!

Yes, there are 1,000 lights on this seven foot tree!
I tried several ways to get a good shot of all
the lights without using the flash, but I ended
up having to use it.

Kalacs Day 2008

Today was my daughter's and my day to bake our
Hungarian pastry called kalacs. My father had translated
the recipe given to him by my Nana into English from
Hungarian. Several years ago Donna said we needed to
continue the tradition, even if we had never made kalacs before.
We have had a great deal of fun doing this once a year.

My father made several kinds of kalacs. Here are some
of the ingredients Donna and I used today. We just love to
experiment with different fillings and mixtures.

Donna is holding the Kalacs bible. We have preserved all
of the recipes with comments by her grandfather into this
book. Donna has continued the tradition of writing down what
works and what is "No Good!"

Donna is showing off her newly knitted mittens made by her
Aunt Valerie. She does have to take them off and get to work
mixing up the dough! Now that is hard work.

Here I am mixing up the walnut filling, getting ready to
spread it on the dough over my left shoulder.

Donna loves to be silly. Gee, I wonder who she
gets that from!


On the phone with Valerie in Rhode Island, letting
her know everything came out just fine.

Here you see Donna finalizing the notes from
today's baking into the Kalacs bible. She even
brought her own color coded pens for precise
note making. Ah, such a teacher!!

Back to being silly!

When all was said and done, we had made four batches. We
had 20 kalacs in five different flavors. That was the most
we have ever done as a "team". And to think
my father used to do this whole process alone
is absolutely remarkable.

Jean, Suzanne and Donna Hardin, and Donna
holding some of what was baked today.

All Saints Flowers

I thought this would be a great vehicle for you
to see what was on the altar on All Saints Day
in memory of Mom and Dad. These beautiful flowers
were given by my sister, Valerie Shindell. They looked
beautiful under the cross.