Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Seward House

At the end of April we visited Auburn,  NY on our way to NH. 


There is an excellent docent led tour of the home that was built for Seward's father in law and became  Seward's upon his marriage.


The house was doubled in size in Seward's lifetime.


Descendants of Seward kept everything so the house is filled with the family's belongings.  Here's a tour in photos.





















Seward did a lot of traveling.  The upstairs hall is filled with photos of the people he visited.




One room is an exhibit on the night Lincoln was assassinated.  That night Seward was also attacked in his bed where he had been recovering from an accident.  His attacker was one of Booth's accomplices.




Seward's wife was active in the Underground Railroad despite her husband being Secretary of State.  She hid runaways in this cellar.










If you visit Auburn, make sure to stop here for the tour.

Joining Tom's meme.

Monday, July 30, 2018

update

I got the wrappings/cast off my hand last Friday.  

Worst part was the removal of stitches!  5 incisions, one which had 4 stitches, the others 2 each.

Then I got wrapped in a temporary cast and today will get a removable one so I can take it off when I shower.

My physical therapy begins Tuesday morning with an occupational therapist.

Still typing one-handed but looking forward to using the left again.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Good Bye Plastic Straws - sharing a petition

First Starbucks, now Marriott, and several cities including Paris, San Francisco, and Miami are all considering or committed to phasing out plastic straw use. Two 10-year-old girls think that as one of the largest fast food companies in the world, Dunkin' Donuts should be next. Sign if you agree.
Dunkin' Donuts: Ban plastic straws!
Petition by Sophia and Amanda
Massachusetts, USA
 111,433 
Supporters
Our names are Amanda and Sophia. One day in science class, we came upon an article on plastic straws. The article stated that Americans use more than 500 million straws a day- and throw them away. That is equivalent to 125 school buses filled with plastic straws. We also learned that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.

Those numbers concern us. So when we joined the Earth Club at our school, the leader suggested using change.org, which is how we came upon this website. All 500 million of these plastic straws end up in a landfill or worse, the ocean. When plastic straws get into the ocean, the fish mistake it for food, eat it, and get sick or die. In fact, science shows that when you eat fish, you might as well be eating plastic!

We both think that Dunkin Donuts is a very tasty and an influential company. By choosing this business, we hope to make them take this issue very seriously. These shops have a lot of people coming in every day, almost all of them getting cold beverages containing plastic straws. However, those straws add up to landfill and get into the ocean. Dunkin' Donuts is a very successful company, so if they start banning straws, won’t others follow their lead?

So please sign this petition and share it with your friends to help the environment, and the world we all live in.


Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Random Photos from the Files







anyone recognize any of these places?  though flamingoes could be any where. do you see me in any of the photos?