I doubt if I'm a contender...

for the bloggers' hall of fame!  Can't remember the date of my last post but it was certainly a while back.  And now I'm posting with not much to show and tell.  Regular readers know how I love posting views of weather from inside my apartment and I've gone through my camera and phone and picked out a few of those to share with you.

The first one was taken on May 18 only because I loved the gleaming white cloud amongst all the regular white to greyish clouds.  Just really startling.  Update - just checked back and see I posted it in May but don't care cause it's a favorite.

Then the next two are attempts at capturing a rainbow (a double one at that!)  The first one is not too bad, by the second one it was fading out due to the sky lightening up.

I have to say, it's kind of fun cleaning out the older pictures in your phone or camera.  I couldn't even remember what the picture below was but after a little investigating of old posts, I remembered and decided I would post it again now with a link to my recipe for Moroccan Beef Stew which includes at the end, a recipe for this Shepherd's Pie.

My big news is that my granddaughter, Sophia, came for a nice visit.  She and her mom met me halfway on June 20 and then I drove her all the way back on July 3.  We had a real nice time while she was here (at least I enjoyed it) - searched out all the trains that I posted about a while back, went to the pottery place so she could paint something and she did her best job yet, had lunch with various friends, saw the movie "Inside Outside" (or inside/out?) which we both really enjoyed, ate quite a bit of Tropical Moon's frozen yogurt among other things, played crazy eights, stayed up kind of late watching silly Madasgascar episodes with me loving King Julien, and just had pretty much fun.  But throughout all that, I never took a picture!  What kind of grandmother am I???

When I brought her back home we went to her Uncle Chris's home (my son) and spent Friday night there, then got up the next morning and went to the National Cathedral for an organ recital of patriotic music.  The cathedral was magnificent as always and the organ is also magnificent but I would have enjoyed hearing music written specifically for the organ more.  Sophia was really well behaved because the concert lasted longer than we had expected and she managed to sit through it without getting too restive.  I did take a couple pictures while we were there - Chris gave us a quick tour up in one of the towers so we got to look out from high up and see the city.  Chris then took Sophia to her house.

This was the brass ensemble playing.  There was also a Navy Choir that sang a very moving "Glory, Glory Hallelujah".  There was a large attendance which was nice to see.  And the next one is a picture of my favorite piece from a stained glass juried exhibit that was up in the tower.  I couldn't get a really good picture of it because behind it (as you can see in places here and there) were leaded glass windows with daylight streaming in.  But it was just so beautiful...

So then... (almost done now) on the Tuesday after the 4th, I flew up to Massachusetts to visit with my sister and that's where I am now.  I fly back to DC Thursday and will spend a night or two with January and Maggie and possibly see my daughter Heather and then head back home.  I've been having a nice time as always with my sister - I love Massachusetts and anytime we go anywhere, we take all the back roads to get where we're going and it's so beautiful.  They're getting ready to move soon and I hoped I could be of some help to her and haven't been much.  Hopefully, she won't end up thinking I've been a hindrance!  We drove past this house one time and I about dropped my teeth, so we drove past it again yesterday and I was able to get a few pictures although it is very surrounded by trees.  I don't know if it's actually lived in - my sister tells me that the man who owns it also owns a brewery that is somewhere on the property and he has the house for sale but wants to be able to continue to run the brewery.  Hopefully someone will decide they can live with that and buy the house and give it some TLC.  It is an absolutely wonderful structure.

Isn't the roof wonderful?

And that's it for now.  Just wanted to check in and catch up a little.  I don't know if I've mentioned it in any recent post, but I've booked a flight to Barcelona in Spain for late October.  And (wait for it....) Chris and Heather are going to join me there for a week!!!!  So when I get back home and settled down from all my visiting, I'm going to start planning that trip in earnest.  Once again I am going to try and meet up with Rosanna in Genoa, Italy and maybe spend a few days exploring around that area after our visit.  I hope to make some day trips while in Spain and maybe take a cooking class.  Also hope to do some really great eating! :)

Stay tuned...