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May 20-22 Hattie’s Visit

By on May 27, 2024 in The Pearl

“Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.” – Lois Wyse


This will be Hattie’s last May visit…she starts kindergarten in the fall. She’s so excited and so ready. We love these one on one visits with the Grands. We have a chance to really get to know them. Hattie has grown up so much in the last three years, she’s smart, energetic and she says the funniest things. We were entertained the whole visit.

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May 20-22 Hattie’s Visit

By on May 27, 2024 in The Pearl

“Grandchildren are the dots that connect the lines from generation to generation.” – Lois Wyse


This will be Hattie’s last May visit…she starts kindergarten in the fall. She’s so excited and so ready. We love these one on one visits with the Grands. We have a chance to really get to know them. Hattie has grown up so much in the last three years, she’s smart, energetic and she says the funniest things. We were entertained the whole visit.

On our way to the lake.
Hattie knows how to make the trip shorter…take a nap.
We stayed busy the whole time she was with us. The first day we ran to the store to stock up on all Hattie’s favorites, then she helped Stan bring our little boat from winter storage to the marina. The rest of the day was filled with riding bikes, dancing, climbing rocks and making new friends with marina dogs.

Captain Hattie

She had so much fun riding around the parking lot.

There are so many people and dogs to meet at the marina.

Hattie dancing to her own music…she was putting on a show for us.
Our second day was beautiful so we spent time at Taughannock Falls State Park. We played on the playground and along the lake…looking for treasures. Then enjoyed a picnic before coming back to the boat for a little rest and riding bikes again. After dinner we went out for ice cream. We also stopped and checked out Taughannock Falls. She was very impressed.

Hattie had fun looking at all kinds of treasures…shells, sea glass and jewelry.

Hattie loves to climb…she’s a really mountain goat.

Lunch at the park on the lake.

Summer means ice cream and that also means sprinkles for Hattie.

More things to climb on.

A visit to Taughannoock Falls.

Our last morning was spent at the Ithaca Children’s Garden. She really had fun climbing, swinging and exploring. Our tradition is to stop for lunch and the way home at the Jolly Trolley in Dushore. It breaks up the trip and it’s a fun place to eat.

Fun at the Children’s Garden.

Playing school

Lunch at Jolly Trolley.

April Updates

By on April 30, 2024 in The Pearl
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis
Wow it’s the last day of April already and it’s the first time in 14 years we’re not on a boat. Stan didn’t call Beacon Bay to line up our launch date until last week…we’ve been preoccupied here at the house. So we won’t be at the marina on May 1, but no worries we head back to The Pearl on Thursday and should start our summer season on Friday. 

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

April Updates

By on April 30, 2024 in The Pearl
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” —C.S. Lewis
Wow it’s the last day of April already and it’s the first time in 14 years we’re not on a boat. Stan didn’t call Beacon Bay to line up our launch date until last week…we’ve been preoccupied here at the house. So we won’t be at the marina on May 1, but no worries we head back to The Pearl on Thursday and should start our summer season on Friday. 

Meanwhile our lives have been filled with projects around the house, family time and enjoying our yard coming alive. It’s been amazing watching the changes that have seemed to appear overnight.

Our yard on March 24

The way it looked on April 7…two weeks later.

One month later our yard is so green and the trees are blooming and putting on leaves.

The dogwood tree in our backyard is beautiful.

We have these Clematises all over the yard.

This Lilac tree is also in the back of the property. It seems wonderful.

We have strawberry plants everywhere…they’re like the ground cover in all the flower beds and they are full of blooms. I hope we have a chance to try some. With all the birds, bunnies and groundhogs we might have a fight on our hands.
We have wild violets growing all over the place also. They are literally coming up in the yard and I love them.

The paint in most of the house was fine and something we could live with, but the smaller bedroom upstairs had to be changed. We painted the walls a light gray and the ceiling white. We also painted the window seat and the room is now very inviting. What a big difference paint can make.

Last fall when we got the house we bought a nightstand and dresser for the small upstairs bedroom. They have tons of antique or resale stores in the area. We found wonderful buys and have had fun redoing them.
The before and after pictures of the nightstand. We will redo the dresser later in the summer or next fall.
We also needed a little bench in the utility room so we could change our shoes. We found an old piano bench that was just the right size. It was in pretty bad shape, but Stan did a great job fixing it up.
Before and after.
This little step stool was made by my grandfather almost 100 years ago and it is coming in very handy in this house. The stool was covered in overspray paint from all the times it was used in household projects. A new coat of paint and it looks amazing too.
I didn’t like the first color so I ended up repainting with the paint I used on the nightstand. 
The grands had their first sleepover at the house in April. What a great time. We had ice cream at the Old Mill Creamery and played in the creek…although it was a bit chilly.
Everyone enjoyed being creative on the patio. Spring means chalk, bubbles, soccer, s’more and so much more.
The kids also had fun skating and using the hoverboard. 
Graham really looks tall on his hoverboard.
Campfires and S’mores….what could be better.

March Updates

By on April 23, 2024 in The Pearl
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -C.S. Lewis

March was a very busy month. We spent a lot of time with our Texas grands and catching up with friends we won’t see for eight months. March also was the beginning of our northern migration. We left about a month earlier since we have our new home in Lewisburg and had things we still wanted to do before we head to the lake for the summer.

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

March Updates

By on April 23, 2024 in The Pearl
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending” -C.S. Lewis

March was a very busy month. We spent a lot of time with our Texas grands and catching up with friends we won’t see for eight months. March also was the beginning of our northern migration. We left about a month earlier since we have our new home in Lewisburg and had things we still wanted to do before we head to the lake for the summer.

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

The Move

By on February 25, 2024 in The Pearl
“Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.” –Author Unknown

We made the decision to move our dirt domicile to Lewisburg last fall and knew we’d move our things there after Christmas. Weather kept us patiently waiting in January, but while we enjoyed our morning coffee on February 2 we decided it was time. The forecast for the coming week looked perfect…sunny and warmer weather in Pennsylvania. Stan had already spoken to the U-Haul place in Rockport about renting a truck so after breakfast he went and picked up a 26′ truck. 

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

The Move

By on February 25, 2024 in The Pearl
“Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.” –Author Unknown

We made the decision to move our dirt domicile to Lewisburg, PA last fall, but knew we wouldn’t move our things there until after Christmas. Weather kept us patiently waiting in January, but while we enjoyed our morning coffee on February 2 we decided it was time. The forecast for the coming week looked perfect…sunny and warmer weather in Pennsylvania. Stan had already spoken to the U-Haul place in Rockport about renting a truck so after breakfast he went and picked up a 26′ truck. 

Our climate controlled storage unit was in Victoria so the rest of our day was spent driving to and from Victoria and loading everything we own into the truck. We’re proud to say we loaded everything by ourselves. Not too bad for a couple of old people. On our way back to Rockport we picked up a car carrier. By dark we were loaded and ready to head north. 
The empty U-Haul
Our storage unit
Part way to a full U-Haul
Taking a break
All loaded
Our empty unit…so happy to have our stuff back.
Loaded and ready to go
We waited for the cold front to move through our area and get past Houston before we headed out. The U-Haul was pretty comfortable although it was a little bumpy. We left on Saturday and arrived at our house early in the afternoon on Monday. It was nice to park the U-Haul and be able to use our car again. We spent our first two nights with our family in Bloomsburg. It felt wonderful being back. 

On our way
Unloading the truck was a bigger job since we had to carry things further and some of the larger items had to go up stairs. I was grateful that Kyle had the morning off and helped us. I know we couldn’t have done it without him. By February 7 we were sleeping in our new home and by Friday we were mostly unpacked. Hanging pictures took a little longer. We still have work to do and things we need to buy to truly make it feel like home, but we’ll enjoy that process later in the spring. 

The first week in Pennsylvania was warm and beautiful. The second week we had snow…lots of snow. It really made everything look pretty. We were so glad we were there to see it.

We had lots of these little snowdrops and crocuses along our carport. 

One of my favorite things to have back are my mid century martini glasses. I call these snowtinis….a martini with a snowball.

The Lewisburg Farmers Market is just a few blocks from our house. They offer wonderful things for sale every Wednesday year round. 

We celebrated Valentine’s Day at a little restaurant downtown called Elizabeth’s. Great food and atmosphere. It even started snowing while we were there.

Stan had the grilled spring cress trout and I had the Bistro Cavatelli. 
One Saturday we went to the Rusty Rail Brewing Co for lunch. We lucked out and enjoyed a craft show they were holding on the second floor.

The grands are already enjoying our new home. It’s going to be fun being so close to them.

New Adventures Ahead

By on February 9, 2024 in The Pearl
“I don’t know where my road is going, but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand.” –Alfred de Musset

Home is where the heart is or in our case where the boat is docked, but we knew when we sold our home that we wanted to find somewhere to put roots down again. We’ve spent the last three years trying to figure out exactly where that would be. I’ve always felt that when it was the right time and we were in the right place we would know. Things do seem to fall into place when they are supposed to. 

CONTINUE READING HERE…»

New Adventures Ahead

By on February 9, 2024 in The Pearl
“I don’t know where my road is going, but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand.” –Alfred de Musset

Home is where the heart is or in our case where the boat is docked, but we knew when we sold our home that we wanted to find somewhere to put roots down again. We’ve spent the last three years trying to figure out exactly where that would be. I’ve always felt that when it was the right time and we were in the right place we would know. Things do seem to fall into place when they are supposed to. 

CONTINUE READING HERE…»