What A Wonderful World...

...what a wonderful weekend! And now I am officially exhausted! Whew.

I hope all of you are beginning your week with smiles and feeling good...Spring was definitely out in force last weekend. Today? Not so much! It is rainy and cold. But I can just look back and feel warm...so. Just what were we up to? Let's take a peek...

...and as always, most pictures may be clicked on for a larger view.

We took a drive through the St. Anne's Hill and the Oregon District neighborhoods of Dayton. We always love the old houses, the cottages being a huge favorite.

Don't you love the front door here? This pretty place in just across the street from a great seafood spot, Jay's. We love this house, especially the front stoop. Here is a closeup of it...the purple door and the stainless steel accessories! LOVE that. LOVE this red house...

...and this side garden.

This is our favorite place...a sweet cottage that I would

LOVE to see inside. Maybe someday...

Here is the cottage's side courtyard.

I love this house and look at their wonderful front yard and porch.

Still all decked out for Easter.

Then we drove past a few of downtown Dayton's churches...

this one, Holy Trinity, was built in 1860 and has always been one of my favorites.

Friday night found us out with several of my high school friends. We met at a local spot to hear

The Stumps. The Stumps are something of a legend in the Dayton area and have been together since the 1960s. What great music! They play mostly songs from the 60s and 70s and what's not to love about that? The drummer is their newest member and just happens to be a friend from our high school days! We all wanted to be there to support him, the band and have a good time listening to classic rock and roll.

Saturday was busy...at 10 am, a group of us from church met to

clean up the city bike and hike trail. It was a delight to see how well it had been cared for and how little trash was there. Good work Dayton! Then it was time for a treat...Kipper decided that it had been too long since we had taken him to Ritter's, sooooo....

Okay Dudes. Here is where *I* take over the story. What the old lady t'ain't tellin' you is this. They said it was too cold to go to the last Dog Night at Ritter's. Come on dudes. It was ONLY 20 degrees and a little icy. Gee whiz. So I figured they owed me ya know?

Whoo Hoo! Here we are!!

T'ain't it beautiful dudes? It just glows in the sun. *sigh*

There were only a few peeps there but this little dudette really had it bad for the Kipster.

So's I gave her a tumble and smooched her nose...

Dad had to hold my cuppa so's it didn't get away...I have one mean slurp ya know!

Oh wait dudes!! A little help here...hello? STOP laughin'!

Whoa...help a little dude out?

If they would stop laughin' for one second and help me I could get this off my face...my mom better NOT be takin' my picture...

Aw gee dudes...the 'scream is all gone and so's my story is ended.

Don't I look sad? *sniff* Till next time!

After Ritter's we headed over to Woodland Cemetery. It is truly one of Dayton's gems and such a lovely, historic and peaceful place. The geese and ducks were all enjoying a warm Spring day...

This is the gravesite for the Wright family...

You might recognize two of these names...

Then we drove around some of our favorite parks to take in more Spring beauty...

Late afternoon arrived and so did softball practice.

Grace seems ready to catch those grounders...

Grace at bat...

Grace and her BFF, Miss K. You should see Miss K pitch! This girl has quite the arm!

Then it was dinner out for our little athlete. She chose her favorite

Chinese restaurant and her favorite dish. We met our good buddy, T, and had a lovely time. As we headed home, this was the sunset that greeted us.

Talk about a perfect ending to a sweet day!

Sunday was a little rainy but we still enjoyed our day. After church, Mom, Bill, Grace and I headed to a favorite spot for brunch. Afternoon was spent at the movies with Grace and our friend, Z. Z and Grace wanted to see 17 Again.

Is that Zac Efron downright adorable or what? And no. I am NOT robbin' any cradles here. I would still prefer my beloved Brian Dennehy but I am just sayin'...

That evening we met our dear friends T and C at a benefit dinner. The Robyn's Nest is an animal rescue organization that does some awesome things. We had spaghetti, salad, bread and dessert and enjoyed seeing all the fur babies up for adoption.

This was Charlie Brown...such a sweet boy...

And this is Hannah. She was rescued just a few weeks ago and is looking for a new home.

Okay. Truth time. I fell in love with her and oh how I want to bring her home with us. I have yet to convince Bill that we need another pet but oh how I love her. She is such a small girl...won't get any bigger...and a sweetie. Even if it isn't here, I pray she will find a new home soon.

I send each one of you lots of love and many hugs. Enjoy your week and savor each day.

Life is SO good...

Love and Hugs,

Susie Q

Rue, Sue...Sue, Rue...Sue, Sue...Sue, Sue...

See ladies? From the chin up only!

..and why? These two girls are just plain purty.

Really purty. Seriously. I'm just sayin'...

...Rue, Sue...Sue, Sue...Rue, Sue...Sue, Rue...and that is how they all met. Okay, So we all actually met online in this crazy, wonderful world of blog. But yesterday we got to meet, yes meet. In person, in full living color. I know many of you know Rue...and if you don't, why the heck not? Hmm...but Sue is newer to blogging so DO go over and introduce yourself. Just click on a name here in the first paragraph and you will hop on over to see these two remarkable ladies.

I knew they would be fun, gosh. I KNEW it. Was I mistaken? Not on your life baby.

We hugged, we laughed, we talked, OH how we talked...we ate, we smiled, we just plain had a good time. And I will tell you somethin' that neither one of them will tell you...lean in...ssh...come closer...closer still...they are both G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. Uh huh. *I* felt like fatty mcfat fat schlumpo next to them but yet they allowed me to hang with 'em anyhoo. See how nice they are? Told ya!

I picked up Sue (Who we discovered lives about a whole 4 miles from moi) and we headed North to Urbana, Ohio. We had spoken to one another by telephone so meeting her was just like meeting someone I had known for awhile. We laughed all the way...especially when my retired Naval navigator husband's directions proved to be WRONG! ACK. Thank goodness for cell phones and Sue's GPS. So we get there and there was Rue...and then it was Sue, Sue and Rue. Or was it Rue, Sue and Sue? Or, Sue, Rue and Sue?

We began our adventure at Rothschild's Farm and Market. Oh the goodies, oh the free samples..oh the tasting... Click on the Farm name and you will be whisked to their online site. Mail order ladies! How about this wine? Cincinnati Reds players past and present...Homer Bailey, Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr. immortalized as wines...Reds and Chardonnays...what's your pleasure? The tasting and sampling didn't fill us up so we headed over to Robert's On Miami for lunch. Click on the name and you can visit this sweet place for yourself! Greeting us at the entry...dear Luella the hostess with the mostess. I thought I looked a lot like old Lu here with a couple dozen more pounds of course. Lu agreed... How about this ceiling? I want one like it in my house! Love it! Wouldn't you guess that the group chubbo would choose THIS for lunch? Hey. I had had no breakfast and was famished. Really. I was...sheesh. And it was good. Uh huh. And the restaurant staff probably wondered about that table of ladies who kept taking pictures of the food...no worries people. I swear we aren't from the Department of Health. Really! Just crazy bloggers... The girls in front of the restaurant...chins up only! But I am tellin' ya'll. These ladies are P.U.R.T.Y. Oh yeah...silly, purty and fun. A peek at a couple of shops on the town square...

Sweet Annie's

Another cute restaurant...

A cute arrangement inside the Country Gentleman...

The pretty town square...and the blasted traffic circle...

It was a fun day, a sweet day, a great day. And we got there and back even WITH Bill's bad directions. (Did I mention enough times that he was a NAVIGATOR?) Thank you to two special ladies. Let's do it again real soon okay?

Love and Hugs,

Susie Q