The Husband is Home

Today has been stressful.

I slept late this morning. My cell phone rang at 9:30 am. It was the funeral home telling me The Husband's cremains were ready for pickup, as well as copies of his death certificate.

I brought everthing home and took the items upstairs to our office. I placed The Husband on a bookcase. I worked all afternoon reviewing various accounts/bills. This work is tedious, time consuming and emotionally draining. 

I had plans to meet up with good friends at a local restaurant. The time we spent together, the conversations about The Husband we had and the stories/photos we shared were just what I needed today, or so I thought.

I showed them the following picture of The Husband, which is the epitome of his love of the porch. The photo was taken several years ago. Notice the iPod in the Bose speaker dock, which means we were listening to his eclectic music catalog (4,000 songs). Also notice the cocktail glass next to the iPod. And, who could miss his head thrown back and his big laugh as he was conversing with our neighbors?

I returned home from being with our friends tonight and decided The Husband and I would have a cocktail on the porch, with music. See the iPod in the Bose speaker dock, the cocktail glass with Johnny Walker Red and water, as well as the box containing The Husband?

I sat there for a few moments, just the two of us with his favorite music and his favorite drink.

I started bawling.

I then asked the next door and across the street neighbors to join us, which they happily did. We laughed and reminisced about our numerous, informal porch parties over the years. The Powell house motto was, after all, "If we are on our porch, COME ON OVER!"

I'm thankful every day that I was lucky enough to be the friend of (and the wife of) The Husband.  

I am also thankful every day for all our friends and family that have helped both of us on this journey.

Night Sounds

It's 1:40a.m.

I am not in bed.

I am listening to the sounds of the train yard west of the Arkansas River and south of downtown Tulsa.

BANG, as cars smash together and hook up.

TOOT, as whistles blow.

Sometime early in the morning, while I am laying in bed, I will hear church bells.

The bells will be primarily from Tulsa's Boston Avenue Methodist, but also from other churches downtown.

What do you hear, from your home, late at night and early in the morning?

Have You Decorated for Halloween?

My neighborhood is preparing:

So am I:

New Neighbors!

How do you meet and greet new neighbors?

I typically do some variation of the following:

The attached paper says:

Welcome to Newport Avenue

Decorating a new home is exciting.

So is meeting new neighbors.

When we are sitting on our front porch,

it is an open invitation to come over and visit with us.

Welcome! 

Cindy & Steve

A cordial greeting goes a long way toward breaking the ice and assimilating new folks into our neighborhood. 

It also serves as a great opportunity to get some of our most pressing "Gladys Kravitz" questions answered quickly! 

Vintage Tablecloths

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I love estate sales, flea markets, antique malls and the occasional garage sale.

One of the categories of things I collect is linens. Lovely, lovely linens. Old tablecloths and napkins. Side table scarfs. Embroidered anything!

I have a lot of items. But, it's okay because I use them!

Recently, I was happy to loan a number of vintage tablecloths to my niece Amy. She used them for a neighborhood celebration of their local park. Read all about it here.

For me, one of the saddest things about going to estate sales is purchasing beautiful, wonderful, UNUSED items. What were the previous owners waiting for?

The moral of this story is, whatever vintage items you may own, get them out and USE them!

Please!

Our Front Porch

This is our front porch.

A former co-worker, who was in town for a conference Friday, stopped by to see me in the afternoon. We sat on the porch and visited over iced tea.

Our neighbors know if we are on the porch in the evenings, it is an open invitation for them to stop by.

Friday night we had a few visitors and lively conversations on books, politics, the city trash program and our immediate block.

We have diverse neighbors, which makes for fun times.

We are thankful we live in this classic neighborhood with large front porches and sidewalks!

Neighbor Tip - What To Take To Bed With You!

YOUR CAR KEYS

Put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

It's a security alarm system you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your home and will keep honking until you reset it with the button on the key remote. It works if you park in your driveway or garage.

If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your home, odds are the burglar won't stick around... After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough, the criminal won't want that.

And remember to carry your keys while walking to/from your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there...

The above information is quoted from our neighborhood association newsletter. We have been having some "issues" in our neighborhood recently.

I thought it was a great suggestion and wanted to share it with my readers.

Neighborhood

The phone rang this evening. The Husband answered. It was a neighbor.

"Hi. It's my birthday. We are having food and drinks for a few friends. Come on over, if you like."

We, of course, "liked."

Family Friday

Friday morning I was my Mom's driver. She had an out patient procedure at a local hospital. Everything went well and my most important duty turned out to be taking her for a late brunch.

Phill's Diner at 32nd & Harvard is a family favorite, so there we went. I had her home by 1:30pm and she snoozed the afternoon away.

Friday night, the sister and her family came over for dinner. Oh my, did we have fun with the girls!

The minute they arrived, the girls were looking for our new fairy neighbors. They immediately knocked on the door and waited to see if she (it was assumed the new neighbor was a girl, like Tinkerbell) would come out.

Big Sister A was cute knocking on the door, but Baby L was hysterical. She knocked and then yelled, "HELLO. HELLO. IS ANYONE IN THERE?" Of course, no one answered the "door."

We went into the house to visit and prepare dinner.

Aunt Cindy had bought oversize coloring pages for the girls. Big Sister A colored a beautiful picture of Snow White and said "I want to put it outside for the fairy. Can we hang it on the tree for her?" Aunt Cindy and Mom took the girls outside and secured the drawing to the tree. The girls were happy and continued playing both inside and outside the house.

We had a great dinner:

Appetizer:
Grapes
Dinner:
The Husbands's Special Salad (loved by the B-i-L)
Grilled trout
(stuffed w/mini shrimp, shallots, bread crumbs

& home grown parsley)
Snow Peas
Dessert:
Strawberry Shortcake

After dinner we went on a second fairy hunt, with flashlights. That is when we realized she had been outside the tree.

She took the picture Big Sister A colored for her!

And, outside her front door, on our porch steps, on the porch post and on the window ledge, looking into our living room, was PIXIE DUST!

I say, PIXIE DUST, people!

It was multi colored and glittery and shiny in the flashlight beam.

What more proof do you need of the existence of fairies? None, I would say!

The nieces were sad she did not show herself, but we told them she was probably a bit shy and would have to get to know us.

As they were leaving, the girls gave me all kinds of advice of what to do if the fairy showed herself.

Aunt Cindy is going to have fun with this for a while and, hopefully, create wonderful memories for the nieces.

Friday Night on the Porch

We purchased our current house because of two things: 1) the large dining room and 2) the large front porch.

Last night was a perfect porch night. We were there from 4:00pm until 8:00pm. In that time, a neighbor came to update us on her family's week, plus the latest "going ons" in the neighborhood.

Additionally, there were lots of neighbors out walking with dogs and without dogs (our neighborhood has sidewalks, thank you!) and sitting on their porches--visiting, laughing and passing the time.

There were numerous large City of Tulsa trucks and heavy equipment just down the block at the location where a house was recently demolished. This was interesting!

Our neighbors directly across the street went to a party tonight. They left their 13 year old son home alone. He could shoot baskets on the driveway as long as we (The Husband and I) were on the porch. He did not even cringe at the restriction of "the neighbors" watching him. He shot hoops for a while and then told us "I'm going inside." Bless his heart! He is a good boy and we hope he stays that way.

We are so appreciative of the neighborhood in which we live. We were entertained tonight without ever turning on the TV. How many areas can you say that about?

Home and Garden Tour

A neighbor and I went on the 14th Annual Maple Ridge Home and Garden tour on Sunday.

My favorite house on the tour is at 320 E 19th Street.  The homeowners and contractors did a wonderful job of transforming the outdoor space into a lovely oasis. It really made me want us to get serious about our backyard.  

Look What Happens When I'm Gone for a Few Days

I leave town for a few days and look what I missed.  

We knew the old house had been sold and was going to be knocked down.  I'm just sorry I missed the event.  I find these things entertaining.

Will be interesting to see what type of house gets built.

What Neighborhood Do You Live In?

We live in a FANTASTIC 'hood.

We just returned from a neighbor's house.   They offered up their very COOL kitchen (pots/pans/utensils) to a neighbor to use to prepare food for her sisters baby shower. The neighbors who own the house were not there until much later in the evening, due to a previous engagement.  Would you open your home to your (crazy) neighbors when you were not there?  

The Husband and I are thankful that we live in a neighborhood where our neighbors trust, if not love us, every day.