Ailantha - Blog

TROPICAL DEPRESSION BY PATTI LISZKAY
Pre-ORDER FROM BLACK ROSE WRITING

https://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/tropicaldepression?rq=Tropical%20Depression%20Patti%20Liszkay

BEFORE APRIL 27 FOR A 15% DISCOUNT USING PROMO CODE
PREORDER2023

Doesn't it seem like calories are something we're constantly struggling to avoid as opposed to something we need to live? And considering that calories are, in fact, what keeps us alive but that we're constantly burning them up, wouldn't it seem intuitive that we'd want to stock up on the most calories that we could, so as to a have a nice, well-padded metabolic bank account to draw from?
But alas, as we all know, calories are not the same as money - although maybe they are in that too much of either is not particularly healthy or beneficial, and having just the right amount of both to meet our daily wants and needs is likely best.
However, the conventional wisdom seems to be, earn money, burn calories.
Taking off from that point, do you know what burns up most of the calories that we consume? Not exercise, but NEAT, or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis:

Apparently NEAT is all the movements, big and small, that we make all day long that aren't exercise. And the more of these movements that we do throughout the day, the more calories we burn. Some common examples of NEAT are cooking,

..housework,

...shopping,

...playing an instrument,

...playing with the dog,

...going up and down steps, getting from point A to point B, even fidgeting while sitting counts.

One hour of exercise purportedly takes up 4% of our waking day, while non-exercise takes up a whopping 63% (assuming we're sleeping for eight hours. Which I, for one, just about never am, not because I wouldn't like eight hours of sleep a night, but because that much sleep will not come to me no matter how many hours I lie in bed).
Anyway, what got me cogitating about this subject was this article I read in the New York Times last week about the potential health drawbacks of working from home.

Among the drawbacks were the likelihood of less walking, as from the one's car to the building of one's employment, less getting up from one's desk to consult with one's co-workers, less hanging around the water cooler chatting, etc. In short, less NEAT. It was also an exhortation to those working from home to get their NEAT on.
Which I, frankly, have been doing. Ever since I read that article I've been trying to have more of an awareness of all the moves I make during the day while making the effort to make enough of them.
However I do feel confident that I at least have the fidgeting all sewn up. All my life people have been saying to me, "Geez, can't you sit still for a minute?" Now I finally have a righteous answer: No, I shall NOT sit still. I'm busy NEATing.

https://www.verywellfit.com/neat-non-exercise-activity-thermogenesis-2241984

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/opinion/wfh-return-to-office-health.html

0 Comments

Celebrating Anusha

3/15/2023

2 Comments

TROPICAL DEPRESSION BY PATTI LISZKAY
ORDER FROM BLACK ROSE WRITING

https://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/tropicaldepression?rq=Tropical%20Depression%20Patti%20Liszkay

before April 27 for a 15% discount using promo code
PREORDER2023

CELEBRATING ANUSHA

On February 15, 2023, my niece Anusha became an American citizen.

To celebrate this very special occasion, I proposed that we throw a party in Anusha's honor, which we did this past Saturday, March 11.
The day before, I decorated the living room with patriotic balloons that I picked up from the Dollar Tree.

N.B.: If you ever need helium balloons, the Dollar Tree is the place to go. The balloons are $1.25 each and they last a whole lot longer than you want them too. I once let a bunch of Dollar Tree balloons continue to float around my house after the party was over just to see how long they'd last. Two months later they were still afloat. (See post from 8/15/2015, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/the-persistence-ofmemoryballoons).

On Saturday morning Tommy and Randy - Anusha's hubby - came over to help Tom, Theresa and me with the preparations. I put Tommy, Randy, and Theresa on pastry patrol.
I'd come up with the idea, in honor of Anusha's country of birth, of decorating a batch of mini-cupcakes as the flag of India.

This task I assigned to Randy (right) and Tommy (left).

The flag of India:

The cupcakes:

As Anusha is also a citizen of Canada along with now being an American, I decided to commemorate this as well by making two tartes aux fruits - big soft cookies iced with a mix of whipped cream and cream cheese and topped with fresh fruit - in the shape of her flags. This task I likewise assigned to Tommy and Randy. Tommy opted to make the American flag, while Randy took the Canadian flag.

(I also bought flags of Canada and India and hung them on the front porch, but, alas, I forgot to take pictures. Then at the end of the day I gave the porch flags to Anusha).

Theresa, meanwhile, worked on icing a batch of chocolate cream-filled mini-cupcakes,

...while Tom valiantly took on dishwashing duty.

Next I put Tommy and Randy to work on the final edible tribute, a flag of India veggie tray,

...stylized, of course.

And then it was all hands hustling around doing whatever else needed to be done before the guests arrived.

At one o'clock the guests began arriving,

...including guest of honor Anusha, who, in her typical fashion, immediately chipped in to help with the last-minute details.

By the time all the guests had arrived - 17 family members (and one friend) in all - the table was set.

We called everyone to the dining room and I said a blessing.

On the menu was:
Rice with garlic and lemon shrimp and vegetables
Corn with sauteed vegetables

Tater rounds
Green beans almondine

Mac and cheese
Shredded pork

Hot rolls
Ham and cheese stromboli
Margherita pizza stromboli
Flag of India veggie tray and dip

Vanilla flag of India mini-cupcakes
American flag tarte aux fruits
Canadian flag tarte aux fruits
Red, white and blue M&M cookies
Chocolate cream-filled mini-cupcakes

Fruit salad brought by my sister-in-law Mary Jane
Jelly fruit slices
Chips

I gave a blessing,

....then Anusha gave a lovely little speech of thanks for family and friends and in gratitude for her new citizenship and for this day.

Then we all dug in.

A little later I gave Anusha a citizenship gift,

...a bird feeder set with glass mosaic pieces, the colors of which evoked the colors of the globe: blue like the oceans, green like the trees and plants, and golden brown like the desert areas.

Then we spent the rest of the day sitting around,

...chatting,

...going back for seconds, thirds, and fourths,

...and otherwise enjoying the day.

As the day wound down and people began to leave, I asked everyone to take with them a balloon and a piled-up plate or two (or three) of left-overs. Most were glad to oblige.
And then the party was over and everyone was gone. But - as the song goes - the memory lingered on.

And it was a happy one.

2 Comments

The Library Space

3/13/2023

0 Comments

The downtown main branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library has been showing a photographic exhibit on redlining in Columbus, redlining, or racial zoning, being the real estate practice in this country of marking off neighborhoods where people of color lived and designating them as low value areas not worth the financial investment of a mortgage loan.

Last Tuesday Tom and I decided to see go the library exhibit.
Now, the main branch of the Columbus library underwent a major renovation a few years ago, and though at the front entrance one can still find a vestige of the building's beautiful original interior design,

...upon entering the library proper one steps into a vast, bright, modern space with an attractive open-area design.

As we traversed the library space on our way back to the redlining exhibit, we passed another quite engaging exhibit on human migration,

...as well as the beautiful staircase mural painted by Columbus folk artist artist Aminah Robinson.

We also passed the library bookstore,

...the café,

...and lots of places to sit,

...before we arrived at our destination, the redlining exhibit.

And it was all good, the exhibits, the shops, the nice public spaces; but it hit me: where are the books in this library?
Not that there were no books at all; there was one long row of shelves that held a number of copies of a couple of different books.

...and I did catch sight of a display in one of the sitting areas,

...and there were some books hanging on a wall.

But the most books were to be found on the shelves of the book store, which was the only area that, to me, looked like a library.

All the books on the store shelves were used library editions for sale for a dollar or so.
I asked the cashier where all the books were in this library.
"The books are on the second and third floors," she said. "And there's the children's library to the left of the entrance."
I knew about the children's library. Last summer I took my granddaughters there, and they had a fine time playing with the baby chicks and ducks from the hatchery that had been set up in the children's library,

...also looking at the Lego display,

...and even looking at some books.

So I headed, instead, up the staircase to the second floor, where there were shelves of books to be found,

...amidst the space.

There were also some bookshelves spread out around the third floor,

Wow, said I to myself while taking in the impressive view from the third floor of the second floor,

...there's just not a whole lot of books in this library.
But after giving it a moment's thought, I decided that this state of affairs wasn't necessarily bad, but just a sign of the times. After all, just because people aren't reading print books doesn't mean they're not reading. It likely means, rather, that they're reading on their Kindles and Nooks or listening to their Audiobooks. And if the Columbus main branch library is no longer the repository for oodles of tomes that it once was, it's still a beautiful community space where people can come to read or work on their devices, or for any number of other beneficial reasons,

...and have a snack or a drink while they're at it.

But it's sure not your mother's library.

0 Comments

Ron DeSantis Is A Weener Doodle And So Is Jason Brodeur

3/8/2023

2 Comments

FRIDAY, MARCH 10
"Equal and Opposite Reactions" by Patti Liszkay
will be 99 cents on Amazon Kindle
http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa

RON DESANTIS IS A WEENER DOODLE AND SO IS JASON BRODEUR

Okay, I know it's not nice that I just called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a weener doodle.

And it's not nice that I called Florida Republican state Senator Jason Brodeur a weener doodle, either.

But the thing is, there may be but a small window of time left until a blogger such as myself will no longer have the freedom to call these guys weener doodles or anything else less than adulatory. So I thought I'd better hurry up while I still have the chance to say it without the risk of being censored and fined.
But, of course, I wouldn't call anybody a weener doodle under any circumstances unless they deserved it, and Ron DeSantis and his buddy Jason Brouder certainly deserve it.
Why does Ron DeSantis deserve to be called a weener doodle? Well, really, how do I count the whys? But as for Senator Jason Brodeur, he dreamed up and introduced to the Florida state legislature a bill that would require bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, his Cabinet or state legislators to register with the state.
I'm serious. According to Brodeur's bill, failure to register with the state within five days of the blog post would result in a fine of $25 a day, with a maximum of $2500 per blog post. And if a blogger (unlike moi self) happens to make any money from their blog about the Governor et al the blogger must report who paid them and how much.
Kinda has a creepy vibe, doesn't it?

But what's not clear is whether this Florida anti-free speech law would apply only to bloggers who live in Florida or whether bloggers all over the world would have to register with Florida when they wrote about the Governor, his Cabinet, or his legislature. I mean, could they somehow find out our addresses and make us register? Or make us pay if we don't?
Do they have their ways?

In any case, the bill is now before the Florida legislature and there's already a copy of it on Governor DeSantis's desk for his consideration.
It's hard to believe such a piece of tyranny would come to pass in this country. But then, there are a lot of things that come to pass in this country that are hard to believe.

Still, I can hardly imagine that the Florida blogger registration bill will come to pass. But just in case it does I'm going to play it safe and say it now while it can still be said: Ron DeSantis is a weener doodle. And so is Jason Brodeur for making up such a stupid bill.

2 Comments

Thoughts On A Rainy Day

3/6/2023

0 Comments

A few days ago we woke up to a rainy morning here in Columbus, Ohio, and the words from the old Joni Mitchell song played in my head:
Rows and floes of angel hair, and ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on every one...

...for which I'm thankful. For the raining and snowing on everyone, that is. If only it was raining and snowing on everyone. Or at least on everyone whose patch of earth needs it.
See, I, too, used to look at clouds and see ice cream castles and all that other stuff in the air. But now when I look at clouds they fill me with the hope of rain. Or even snow. These days water in any form falling from the sky is welcome to me. Now when I see the rain pouring down I think of underground aquifers soaking it up, water tables rising, reservoirs topping off, rivers, lakes and streams swelling. I think of water, the source of life on this planet, being replenished. And I wish the rain could be shared.
I especially wish the rain could be shared during that treacherous and treacherously absurd season created by climate change during which it's now the norm for the southern coast of the United States to be drowned by monster hurricanes at the same time as the West Coast is being consumed by drought-induced monster fires.
But here's the thing: I believe that humans, American humans especially, could invent a way to harness the rain brought by hurricanes and transform it from devastation for the South to salvation for the West.
Consider all the wonderful, incredible things we Americans have shown ourselves capable of constructing, including some three million miles of gas and oil pipelines that crisscross this country.
Is it so farfetched, then, to imagine three million miles of pipelines for transporting hurricane water from Florida and Texas to Oregon and California? Is it so farfetched to imagine vast systems of ground drains and pumps connected to vast systems of water evacuation connected to vast systems of pipeline connected to vast systems of water recovery and distribution?
I believe that we humans, so infinite in faculty, could without a doubt accomplish just such a feat of infrastructure. And some days I even find myself believing in the possibility that we might.
I guess I can't stop seeing those ice cream castles in the air.

0 Comments

The Egg Beater, A Love Story

2/28/2023

0 Comments

…Continued from previous post:
The following morning, Tuesday, February 21, Tom and I checked out of the Berlin Resort.
But first, as it was a nice, sunny morning, we took a stroll around the grounds,

…stopping at the Children’s Village, the miniature play town, inside each building of which is a playroom, that our granddaughters used to love when we used to take them to the Berlin Resort every summer before COVID.

It’s been almost four years since we last took them here. I fear that if we took them back to the Berlin Resort again, by now they may have outgrown their once-beloved Children’s Village. But then, outgrowing childhood’s joyland is what children do. In any case, despite waxing nostalgic, we enjoyed our stroll.

After we checked out of the Berlin Resort, Tom wanted to stop by Lehman's, a hardware store he'd heard about located in Kidron, the next town down from Berlin. Lehman's was purportedly a strictly nuts-and-bolts, tools and equipment, no-nonsense old farmer dude kind of place where Tom hoped to find a scythe which which to chop down the winter rye he'd planted to replenish his garden.
Lehman's.

My first impression upon entering Lehman's was, Oh, this place is cute.

My second impression was, ...but it does not look like an old farmer dude hardware store.
Tom looked around and sighed. "The place must have changed," he said.

I agreed that, if ever Lehmann's was a dude store, it was now, indubitably, a chick store. And not the kind that farmers raise.
Not that there wasn't any hardware to be found at Lehman's. No, there were a couple of aisles of tools and other work-related accouterments.

But these seemed more token items,

perhaps a nod to Lehman's heritage,

...or maybe something to hold the guys' interest while their women and children prowled the rest of the store's vast expanse of appealing things.

And while the store didn't carry a scythe, which is what Tom had come there looking for, we did find it a hoot that there was a book on scythes in the book section.

I roamed around the store, picking up a few oh-so-cute trinkets for my grand daughters.
But it was the kitchen wares section that really pulled me in. There was such an amazing array of attractive, unique and useful things.

When I came upon this row of egg beaters, an old-school kitchen tool that I didn't know even existed any more, I couldn't resist taking one off the rack and playing with it.

To my surprise, I gave the handle barely a spin, but the beaters took off and kept spinning, fast, with barely any effort on my part. Wow, thought I, recalling my mother's egg beater and the egg beater I used to own and occasionally used, stiff, annoying apparatuses that gave one's wrist a workout every time. But this egg beater was like none I'd ever used before. It spun like a dream. It was one high-tech egg beater. I had to have it. This little baby, I decided, was going to put my old wire whisk out of business.

I tossed it into my cart with the rest of my acquisitions,

I then headed for the check-out counter, where the cashier proceeded to ring up my purchases.
When she came to the egg beater she stopped. "You want this one?" she asked. "This is the expensive one."
"Oh?" said I, trying to remember whether or not I'd checked the price on the thing before tossing it into my cart. As I didn't know what the price was, I obviously hadn't.
"There's cheaper ones," the cashier added, "but this is the expensive one. Made in the U.S.A."
Now, I wondered how much an expensive egg beater, one made in the U.S.A., might cost. However much it cost, the cashier apparently took one look at me and figured I couldn't afford it. The figure that popped into my head was twenty five dollars. Maybe thirty. But no, surely not thirty. Twenty five. Or maybe twenty. Which I could certainly afford, no matter what this haughty cashier thought.
"Do you want this one?" she asked me again.
"Well, how much does it cost," I asked.
She held up the price tag.

Hearing my gasp and, I expect, reading the expression on my face, the cashier handed me back the one hundred and sixteen dollar and ninety-four cent egg beater and asked me if I would mind returning it to its rack while I picked out a cheaper one.
So, with a little pang of regret I returned the egg beater of my dreams to its rack and tried out several cheaper ones, all of which admitted on their tags to being made in China, and none of which worked like my dream beater.
I'd finally settled on some decidedly inferior, but vastly cheaper model,

...when my mate came up behind me and took from the rack the egg beater that I had just returned. He turned it over in his hand, gave it a spin,

...then handed it to me.
"Here, get this one," he said.
"What?...no!" said I.
"Aw, come on," he said. "Get it."
"Oh, no possible way," I said, returning the beater to its rack.
"Look," he said, reaching around me and taking it back off the rack, "I never buy you anything. You never buy yourself anything. You don't wear jewelry. You don't wear make-up. You don't wear clothes."
"Yes I do wear clothes," I said.
"You know what I mean." He again handed me the egg beater. "Please," he said, "take it. I want you to have it."
And so I took the egg beater from him, returned to the check-out counter, and made it my own.
And I've been greatly enjoying it,

As has my good food-loving mate.

0 Comments

Doing The Amish Country Things

2/24/2023

2 Comments

"TROPICAL DEPRESSION" BY PATTI LISZKAY IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER

AMAZON: HTTPS://WWW.AMZN.COM/1685131832

BARNES AND NOBLE: HTTPS://WWW.BARNESANDNOBLE.COM/W/TROPICAL-DEPRESSION-PATTI-LISZKAY/1142982760?EAN=9781685131838

BLACK ROSE WRITING: WWW.BLACKROSEWRITING.COM/ROMANCE/TROPICALDEPRESSION?RQ=TROPICAL%20DEPRESSION%20PATTI%20LISZKAY

DOING THE AMISH COUNTRY THINGS

,...Continued from yesterday:
The following day, Monday, February 20, we discovered that breakfast at the Berlin Resort had been moved from its previous location in the lobby,

...to the hotel ballroom, which worked just as well for us, and apparently for everyone else.

After breakfast we headed out to town to find Amish Country re-opened for business (see yesterday's post, https://www.ailantha.com/blog/never-on-sunday-in-amish-country),

...and the tourists returned to spend the Presidents' Day holiday despite the overcast, drizzly weather.

Our first stop was at the 61 Surplus thrift store, a pair of buildings,

... located on a pretty country road,

...where all kinds of second-hand items are sold to promote a good cause.

Amish bonnets.

This set of dishes caught my eye,

...but I only looked then moved on.
After the thrift store we then returned to the main commercial strip through Berlin where our first stop was an indoor mall called the German Village Center.

We checked out the Gospel Book Store,

... where I browsed through some of the fiction. Most of it was of the squeeky-clean romance variety, the heroines being mostly Amish school teachers ,

...who had their eye on Amish bad boys,

...whom they managed to straighten out by the end of the book (as I learned by skimming through the pages from beginning to end).

I concluded that the Gospel Book Store would likely not be interested in carrying my books,

...even though the core themes - love and conflict - are about the same.
We made the rounds of the other mall stores,

...including the hardware store where Tom bought a bucket,

...and where they also offered an array of inspirational tee shirts.

We also looked around the grocery store.

We then walked across the parking lot from the German Village Mall to Sol's Palace,

...a vast country crafts Mecca on three floors.

...where one can find a finity of ornamental hangings bearing good-natured messages,

...and some less so.

In any case, at Sol's there's certainly something for every country craft afficionado, whatever their taste,

...or persuasion.

While looking around the bargain basement,

...I even found something I liked: these solar-powered light-up lawn birds for $19.99,

...one of which now sits on my living room buffet while I contemplate the perfect spot for it in my yard.

By the time we finished perusing all the nooks and crannies at Sol's it was time for lunch. We drove to the next town over, a place with the auspicious name of Charm,

...where we hoped to have lunch at our favorite of all favorite Amish Country luncheries, the Charm Family Restaurant,

whose veggie wrap and fries were to die for,

...not to mention their pie and ice cream.

But when we arrived we found, to our horror, that the Charm Family Restaurant had closed. Permanently.
And so I suggested that we return to the Berlin strip and try the Troyer Market, which advertised Good To Go (and like everything else in Amish Country, Wholesome) food.

We split a ham and Swiss sub which was definitely good.

In fact, for a plastic wrapped ham and Swiss it was better than good, as it was very tasty and fresh, as if it had just been made, which it might have been.
We shared our sandwich in the cheery little cafeteria (upon the wall of which hung a piece of cool retro-wall art),

...with the other folks who obviously knew how good the to-go food was here was.

After lunch we had a look around the super market and bought nice some produce,

...while enjoying the free popcorn.

We forewent the more tempting items,

...along with the not-so-tempting tempting ones.

After we finished our shopping we drove back down the strip to visit Loreen's Used Books,

...where the books were indeed wholesome family reading,

...except for a few of questionable rectitude.

After Loreen's we strolled up the street, looking at the shops.

We stopped in the Main Street candy store, which offered a wide array of uncommon flavors of soda,

...most of them not particularly appealing,

...some less appealing than others.

The store also offered a 25-pound gummy bear that looked somewhat the worse for wear.

Then we drove for a while around the pretty countryside that begins as soon as the main Berlin drag ends.

When dinnertime rolled around we headed to the only restaurant opened in Berlin past 5 pm other than the Burger King and East of Chicago Pizza, the Farmstead, which stays open until seven.

The menu reminded the customers to say their grace before their meal.

As we dug into our hearty, tasty Amish buffet food, Tom and I pondered what it was that kept us coming back to Berlin, Ohio year after year, staying at the same place, spending all day moseying up and down the same tourist-trappy street and meandering through the same tourist-trappy stores looking at the same tourist-trappy stuff that we seldom have the least interest in buying, and the whole town closes down at 5 pm except for the Burger King and East of Chicago Pizza.
Neither of us could say. But we started talking about we hoped that by our next anniversary the Charm Family Restaurant would be reopened and the nightly room rate at the Berlin Resort would still be $116.95.

2 Comments

Never On Sunday In Amish Country

2/22/2023

0 Comments

"TROPICAL DEPRESSION" BY PATTI LISZKAY IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER

NEVER ON SUNDAY IN AMISH COUNTRY

Last Sunday, February 19, being Tom's and my 46th wedding anniversary,

...we decided to head back to our old pre-COVID anniversary go-to spot, the Berlin Resort in Ohio Amish Country, where we hadn't been in three anniversaries.

Now, I had originally wanted to book us a room for Thursday and Friday nights, but as those nights were already booked up by the time I got around to making the reservations, I knew of no reason why we shouldn't spend Sunday and Monday instead. The reason I knew of no reason was because I didn't know about Sundays in Amish Country.
And so we were blissfully unaware of what awaited us - or, more accurately, what didn't await us - on this sunny Sunday afternoon when we took off from our neighborhood,

...and picked up U.S. Route 62 where it passed through our suburb of Gahanna, then drove north east through the farm country that begins where metropolitan Columbus ends.

It had been our plan to stop after an hour, as we usually do, for lunch in the town of Danville.

...an Amish Country exurb about 45 minutes from our destination of Berlin.
However our Danville lunch spot, a terrific little eatery called The Hangout, where they serve the best veggie sub on the planet and probably the best fries as well,

...was, to our surprise and disappointment, closed for the day. In fact, the whole town appeared to be closed for the day. But, we figured, Danville is a small town, and so maybe there wasn't enough commerce to warrant the businesses staying open Sunday.
And so we continued on through the pleasant Ohio countryside,

...until we reached the next town, Millersburg, which was deep in the heart of Amish Country and bordered our destination town of Berlin, which was deep in the tourist heart of the area.
However, Millersburg appeared to be just as closed down as Danville was.

That's when the though hit us: Could it be possible that Ohio Amish Country, aka Ohio Tourist Central, closes down on a plum tourism day like Sunday? Never having been in Amish Country on Sunday, we didn't know the answer.
But that, in fact, turned out to be the very case. We drove into Berlin to find every store, shop and restaurant on the main drag empty and shuttered tight.

It was our good fortune, though, that there were, in fact, three places open in the area where one could procure some nourishment:
A Subway we found in a mini-strip mall on the outskirts of Millersburg where we snagged some lunch,

...a Burger King on the edge of Berlin,

...and the sole establishment open on the Berlin main drag, and an East of Chicago Pizzeria.

It even occurred to us to wonder whether the doors of our hotel might be closed on Sunday.
But no, the Berlin Resort was open for business as usual.

The lobby was as bright and cheery we remembered it,

Our room was clean and pleasant as past rooms had been,

...with a view of the grounds from our balcony.

After we settled in we did a once-around-the-place.

Among the amenities are the pool,

...work-out rooms,

...aerobics/yoga room,

...basketball court, massage rooms, barber shop and beauty salon,

...and several areas just to hang out with (or without) a hot drink always available from the machines in the lobby.

And then there's our favorite amenity, the mini-movie theater inside the hotel.

We took a dip in the pool, then when dinner time rolled around we drove into town,

...to where the only action was, East of Chicago Pizza.
The place was not as crowded as one would have expected for it being the only eatery open in town,

...unless everyone else was at the Burger King or the Subway, or else eating at home.
In any case, the service was good and, in the opinion of this amateur food critic and East of Chicago Pizza aficionado, the pizza was delish,

...as were the newly added items since our last visit:
hot subs,

...mini-stromboli's.

...and chicken and french fries.

And then there were the cinnamon rolls, which I can eat my weight in.

After our very satisfying dinner we returned to the Berlin Resort.

When 8pm rolled around we headed down to the movie theater to watch that evening's feature,

..."Daddy Day Care," an entertaining flick starring Eddie Murphy.

And so went our Sunday afternoon in Amish Country. It was actually nice enough. Though we decided that next time we'll come on a Monday. Or a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. But never on Sunday. (And never on Saturday, either, because Saturday in Amish Country is waaaay to crowded!).
To be continued...

0 Comments

Stacy And Michael's Wedding

2/18/2023

4 Comments

"TROPICAL DEPRESSION" BY PATTI LISZKAY IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER

Amazon: https://www.amzn.com/1685131832

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tropical-depression-patti-liszkay/1142982760?ean=9781685131838

BlacK Rose Writing: www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/tropicaldepression?rq=Tropical%20Depression%20Patti%20Liszkay

STACY AND MICHAEL'S WEDDING

...Continued from yesterday:
The following day, Saturday, February 11, the day of Stacy and Michael's wedding, began with breakfast in the cheery hotel dining room,

...where we enjoyed doing more catching up with the relatives.

While Tommy opted to spend some time hanging out with his cousins,

...Tom and I decided to do a practice drive out to the wedding venue, which was in Hastings, the next town over.

On the way there, as we traversed the the snowy Minnesota countryside,

... I kept hearing in my head the the theme from the movie "Fargo" - which actually takes place in Minnesota.

Along the way also crossed the Mississippi River.

When Tom and I returned to the hotel in Cottage Grove we found some of the relatives gathered in the dining room playing cards,

...and doing nails,

...until it was time to set up for the pre-wedding luncheon,

...provided by Mary Jan and Ken, parents of the bride.

Kathy and me

A few hours later if was time to leave for the wedding, which began at 4:30.
Me, ready for the wedding in my sparkly shoes.

The wedding shuttles.

Tom and I, however, opted to drive to Hastings, retracing the practice route we'd taken earlier in the day.

The venue was located at a cute place called "Pioneer Village," an area that was set up to look like an old-timey town with vintage buildings.

The wedding took place in the Little Log House,

...a pretty, rustic building that the family had decorated with beautiful simplicity.

Taking photographs was not allowed during the wedding, but the ceremony was lovely and and heartfelt.
The newly weds

The flower girls.

We walked from the Little Log House to the reception hall,

...which was beautifully decked out for the occasion,

...as were the tables.

Ken and Mary Jane, parents of the bride.

Christie, mother of the groom,

Jeff, father of the groom.

While we waited for the arrival of the bride and groom we munched on yummy hors d'oeuvres,

...and socialized.

Tom and me

When the happy newlyweds arrived we welcomed them with toasts.

And after a prayer of thanksgiving by Tom,

...the feasting began,

Dessert was a delicious variety of bundt cakes, large and small.

After dinner there were speeches by the father of the bride,

...the sister of the bride,

...and friend of the groom.

Then Stacy danced with her dad,

...and Michael with his mom.

...after which we all joined in dancing,

...playing,

...and otherwise enjoying the evening, until the evening was over.
But for Stacy and Michael, the best was just beginning.

4 Comments

Off To Minnesota For Stacy And Michael's Wedding. But First A Stop At The Mall Of America

2/15/2023

0 Comments

"Tropical Depression" by Patti Liszkay Is Now Available For Preorder

OFF TO MINNESOTA FOR STACY AND MICHAEL'S WEDDING. BUT FIRST A STOP AT THE MALL OF AMERICA

Last Friday, February 10, Tom and I flew from Columbus, Ohio, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the wedding of my niece, Stacy, and her fiancé, Michael.

We arrived at the Minneapolis airport around noon,

...the plan being that we would pick up a rental car then wait until our son Tommy arrived several hours later, at which time we would pick him up then drive all together the thirty miles to the Minneapolis exurb of Cottage Grove, where the wedding guests' hotel was located.
As Tom and I had almost five hours to while away before Tommy's flight was scheduled to arrive, and as the airport was just a hop and a skip away from the fabled Mall of America, we figured that might be as good a local indoor attraction as any to check out on this freezing, single-digit-temperature Minnesota day.
Quite impressive from the outside,