Long time, no post...

Long time no post. I guess I lead a busy life? Well either that or I have just been lazy or not in the mood to write something.

Well, the desktop computer went away and came back and so far so good. Bonus was they did not take it back to factory settings so some of the things I had not had a chance to back up were safe and have since been backed up. I am trying to be good and save everything straight to the external hard drive, but sometimes forget. Anyway, we are up and running with a desktop computer and the laptop (which I am currently using as I am transferring books on CD to the iTunes programme to transfer to my iPod. Long story short, I can listen to them while I work out at the gym).

So, have I been up to that kept me from my blog? Well, we had visitors from England for a week. They came out and had a two week cruise to the Caribbean and we met them at the dock in Bayonne, New Jersey. That wasn't a bad drive as it is the same as going to Newark airport (a place we have been many, many, many times), except you turn left off the thruway instead of right. It would seem like the longest exit in the world and you head off towards the water. The road to the actual dock is like a bomb sight as they are developing the area and it is only one lane in each direction. Then you have to join the throng of cars, limos and buses picking up and dropping off at a plastic tented area. Luckily for us our friends had arranged a late time to disembark and much of the chaos had ceased and we were able to park and wait for them.

I have known these friends for many years as they were friends with Bill before I met him. The husband lived in the same street as Bill when they were growing up and so goes way back. I met them shortly after Bill and i started dating and we have been through a lot together. When we get together it is like we only saw each other a week ago instead of a year (or in the case of their visit last year, 10 years!!). Last year they went on a cruise on the Queen Mary and found that this cruise with Royal Caribbean was definitely less formal. It was more geared to the casual American lifestyle and even meals and occasions that were stated to be formal found other passengers in jeans and the like which disappointed our friends. Service was also bad and they are going to write a letter to the cruise line, so it must have been bad!

Anyway, I digress. We spent the week enjoying each others company and visiting a few places such as an outlet mall in New York state: a scenic drive into the northwest corner of CT for lunch at a hotel called the White Hart in Salisbury, with a bar very much like an English pub. We also went antiquing to Sturbridge, MA. we have had quite a bit of snow and while they were here we even had a snow day which made us home bound and so we played a board game. It was our Christmas present from them and involves questions from the 60's to the 00's and proved fun to play at the kitchen table. It is called Reminiscing and also involves the players telling stories and we all learned things about each other we didn't already know.

It was sad to see them leave and we took them to JFK for their flight home. They flew Club Class this year and so had sleeper seats and enjoyed some sleep on the night flight. They got back in time to experience a snow day or two in the UK as they had the worst snow in 18 years. It was only about 4 inches in Essex where we came from and our friends live, but as they are not geared up for snow, it caused havoc and even closed the schools. Now I remember snow as a kid and school was never canceled as every one walked there, but these days it seems they drive, even if it is just a few hundred yards. Plus the teachers and staff live further away, so close they do. Of course the trains and buses didn't run either, so no one went anywhere.

Anyway, other things that have kept me busy are a meeting of my chapter of the Smocking Arts Guild of America (http://www.smockin.org/). we meet the first Tuesday of the month September through to June. We try and have a class after the business meeting and everyone takes turns in teaching or reviewing a technique to do with smocking, embroidery or such. We would love to have a national teacher more often but we don't live close to any and it costs money to bring them to us, so we don't do that too regularly. We do host a seminar every two years at least and is always fun. Anyway this month we began an on-going project which can be made into a needle case and involves reviewing lots of embroidery stitches. we are going to review a couple of stitches each month before our regular programme now that we have all get the project started.

I also had a meeting of the Daughters of the British Empire (DBE). This is a group of women with British connections (born, married too come from a commonwealth country) and it formed to raise money for a retirement home for ex-pats. Now they raise money to support the original home which is now a nursing home open to everyone. Our chapter have their meeting the first Wednesday of the month (September through to June) and we meet in members homes for a business meeting, followed by lunch and a social hour. I have been a member for just over a year and would have joined many years ago had I known about the organisation. I only found out through a round about way and that was a teacher SAGA I met at convention in 2007 in Dallas. She is English and we got talking and on to the subject of food and such and then she mentioned the DBE and when i returned home I looked them up on the Internet and found the local chapter and the rest as they say is history. I am the youngest member of our chapter and am already secretary, but don't mind as I can't host a meeting as our house is too small, so am doing my bit in another way. I did co-host the meeting this week though. The member who hosts the meeting makes a main lunch dish and then two other members co-host and bring salad/bread and dessert. I took the salad and bread as the lady who was going to do so called me as she had jury duty (poor thing!).

Well, I have finished transferring the book-on-CD to this machine and now need to get it on the iPod and then shower as it is getting late and then we are off into NYC for lunch with friends, one of whom is having a birthday today. So I guess my blog for today is over!