First Night in Myrtle Beach

We got here and didn't feel like leaving again to go out to dinner or shopping for something to eat here so dinner was whatever we had with us.  This is us enjoying our first glass of wine after unpacking

and this was our dinner and dessert

 Red wine, peanut butter, honey wheat Ritz crackers and WW Dijon pretzels

Pumpkin pie brought from home

and how bad is red wine and dark chocolate

Accident Update

Here are some of the pictures I took as we drove by the accident

This must be the news helicopter

and this is the report that I found online conerning the accident.  It's amazing that everyone was OK.
 http://www.accidenton95.com/car-slams-into-disabled-tractor-trailer/#more-2706
 Car Slams Into Disabled Tractor-trailer

Posted by Carol Quinn on Oct 31, 2011

North Carolina (October 31, 2011) 
A BMW crashed into a disabled tractor-trailer on I-95 south near Exit 116 in Wilson County.  The tractor-trailer, loaded with concrete pillars, had broken down around 7 a.m. and was on the right shoulder, with safety markers displayed near mile marker 112.  A crew from Coastal Constructors Heavy Haulers, was in the process of making repairs when around 11 a.m. the BMW crashed into the rear of the tractor-trailer.
The driver of the BMW, Edwin August Jaenke, was towing a U-haul trailer and was traveling south on I-95 when he drove through the safety markers, slamming into the left rear of the semi.  The force of the impact sent the vehicle across the left lanes of I-95 south and into the center median.  The vehicle finally came to rest near the tree line with severe damage to the passenger side.  The U-haul trailer was demolished, littering the roadside with personal belongings.
The tractor-trailer sustained heavy damage to the rear wheel area, fortunately none of the men working on the tractor-trailer were injured.
Edwin August Jaenke was injured and transported by ambulance to the hospital.  Claire Jaenke, his passenger, suffered a compound fracture to her leg and was flown by helicopter to Pitt Memorial Hospital.  According to North Carolina State police the couple, in their 80’s, are from Naples Florida.
The North Carolina State Police are investigating the accident.

There was a mess all over the side of the road from the personal items that were being transported.

I-95 accident

We were stopped on I-95 for about 1 1/2 hours, both lanes closed because of an awful accident which we saw when we drove by. Fortunately we had plenty of food and were listening to the book Unbroken by Nancy Hillenbrand. We would have gotten to Myrtle Beach before the end but now we may be able to hear the whole thing.
I posted these pictures on Facebook.


















I was surprised that I was able to wait to use the rest room when we stopped for gas and didn't have to pee on the side of the road. At least we had that option. The weather was good and many took advantage of it. Better than spending 7 1/2 hours on a tarmac like those poor people on the Jet Blue flight.
- Posted from my iPhone

Fredericksburg, VA

It was 32 degrees here when we woke up this morning. Needless to say we had frost all over the car. I ckecked the temp in Webster and it was 37. What's with that???


- Posted from my iPhone

To Myrtle Beach

Going south on I-81 exit 5 has an Exxon station in iWaynesboro, past Shippensburg. We got gas at Shippensburg but when exiting need to make a left not a right like we did.



- Posted from my iPhone

Chocolate Flan Cake

I'd like to try this recipe.
http://www.justapinch.com/recipe/robann/chocolate-flan-cake/cake?source=fork_fb_choc_flan
Chocolate Flan Cake

MacBook Memory Upgrade

In order to upgrade our latptops to Lion we needed to upgrade the memory to 2 GB since it only came with 1 GB.  I stopped into the Mac store on my way home from Greta's and some wonderful employee gave me the name of a website where I could be sure of getting the correct memory I needed for our laptops.  I ordered it and got it on Friday and followed the instructions on the Apple site and installed in.  Still haven't upgraded to Lion though.

Here I only had 1 GB of memory

This is the new memory

Here it is before I took it out of the box and with the supplies the instructions said I would need

 This is the view looking into the parts that needed to be removed

 A metal piece first needed to be removed by loosening three screws

 Here is the metal piece that needed to be removed

I removed the old memory and replaced them with the new

Just needed to make sure they got pushed in really hard so they weren't loose

And voila - 2 GB of memory

E-ZPass Warning

Were you aware that if you drive too fast through an "E-ZPass Only" lane you could have your E-ZPass revoked for at least 60 days after your second offense?  I wasn't until today when I got a letter in the mail saying that I was clocked at 34 mph.  Hopefully I was at least going through a 20 mph lane and not a 5 mph.  I never thought I went through those things very fast because you want to make sure that it accepts the pass.  Guess I'll be really careful in the future.  It says that you must be travelling at the postd speed upon entering and exiting the toll lane.

Fresh Pumpkin

I had a fresh pumpkin and after making that delicious pumpkin pie at Greta's I thought that I should make one using the pumpkin I had before we left home.  This was a real easy way for me to cook the pumpkin.
First I cut some holes in the pumpkin, almost like eyes if I was carving a jack-o-lantern.

This is so the air can escape.  It is much too hard to cut the pumpkin without softening it first, especially with my bad shoulder.  I put it in the microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Then I cut the top off and cleaned out the insides.

I cut it in quarters to make cleaning easier.

Using a serated knife to scrape off any stringy residue worked real well.

Then I put it in a large bowl with a tablespoon or two of water, cutting the pieces to fit and microwaved on high for first 10 minutes and then another 10 until it was really soft.

After it came out of the microwave, let it cool so it can be handled.  The pumpkin should scrape off the shell real easily and then you can use a stick mixer to puree it and make your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.   I used the tried and true Libby's recipe because that's what I used at Greta's.  But I realized that I definitely need to refresh my spices because hers tasted so good with all the brand new spices.

 Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe

• 3/4 Cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsps. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) Libby’s Pumpkin or 2 cups fresh pumpkin
• 1 cans (12 fl.oz.each) Carnation evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep dish pie shells

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
Pour into pie shells.
Bake in preheated 425 degree F. oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.;  bake for 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.  Serve or refrigerate.

And while I was at it, I used a cup of the pumpkin to make my favorite recipe for Pumpkin Nut Bread.  The recipe must be at least 40 years old.  I posted it here last year --> Pumpkin Bread
but just below is the actual recipe that I saved all these years.  It came in our RG&E (Rochester Gas & Electric) bill eons ago.  I cut everything in half but used 2 eggs and added some craisins.  Next time I'm going to try using fresh cranberries since I still have a cup of pumpkin that I put in the freezer.

Weekend in CT

Saturday we went to the zoo after spending an hour in traffic getting there and that night I went to my high school reunion.

Sunday morning we took paper boats that the boys made and Greta waterproofed with clear packing tape to Binney Park for a sail.

I hung out with Tucker while everyone else went to an Open House at Brunswick.  Tucker and I went out to lunch at McDonald's and we both had hot fudge sundaes.  We gassed up my car since I was leaving tomorrow and then we made a life size ghost for Halloween.  At night, Tucker and Hunter and I made pumpkin pie after Hunter and I went to the store for all the ingredients.  It was so good with fresh spices.  I really need to replace mine at home.

Grandma Day

The day started out with listening to Myles practice his viola since he was going to have a test at school to get his white belt and he did get it. He just started his lessons.




I took the boys to school first dropping off Myles and Hunter at their elementary school and then Tucker to Nursery school.  Greta worked from home and for our lunch break she ran and I rode her bike through Tod's Point and someone was out on the very windy, sunny day kite surfing.

 Next it was Tucker's soccer practice

Followed by everyone going to tennis lessons

When we got back home, Laura was there with all kinds of goodies for the boys
Tucker gave us a preview of his "Joker" Halloween costume

and we all went to Abis for dinner.

Day in the City

Today I rode the train with Greta into the city to meet Nadine and start off on our all day adventure.
I got in at 9:30 and called her and she asked where I was.
"Park and 41st," I replied.
"I thought we were supposed to meet on 5th"
"Oh, that's right, I just got here," I said, "where are you?"
"25th and 5th," she said.
"Why are you there?  You went the wrong direction."
We met in the front of the Public Library at 5th and 41st not too much later and so started our day.

We started our trek uptown heading to meet Richie at 11:30 at his new office on 80th street and could do a leisurely stroll on this 60 degree, sunny day.  After a few blocks we stopped for coffee and the bathroom and spent about 40 minutes catching up on what's been going on since we last saw each other in August.  From there we headed out again thinking we probably needed to pick up our pace but couldn't resist stopping in to see the new Uniqlo store at 53rd and 5th

that just opened the previous Friday, October 14th.  Too bad we didn't have time to shop, or maybe that was a good thing in disguise.  The store looks like an Apple store, all glass and a big escalator that goes directly up to the third level.  We didn't have time to see how to get down to the 2nd level and explore what was there.
We got to Richie's new basement office, his previous office on 92nd where he had been for 22 years was inherited by his landlord's children and they wanted to sell the 5 office suite after converting it back to its original 3 bedroom apartment state.
Now we had a whole new area of eateries to explore but today we only had time for dessert since we were having lunch with Aunt Harrie later on.  We went to The Best Chocolate Cake in The World on Madison Ave and shared the sampler plate.

After spending till 1:00 with Richie we caught the crosstown bus through Central Park and then took the train down to see Aunt Harrie.  We got an update on our cousin Bob's marriage which we also heard from Richie along with seeing the link to an article that appeared concerning it in The Chicago Maroon.  We all wish them well and hope that one day we may see our cousin again and meet his new wife.

We had a wonderful chat and then went to lunch at Meme Meidterranean a few blocks away on Hudson St.  From there we went back to Aunt Harrie's for some more chatting and then it was time to go to the 911 Memorial.  Whew!!  What a busy day we're having.  We took the subway down to the memorial.  And I can't say how helpful most New Yorkers are.  At any time that we were looking a little confused about which way to go, some helpful individual would ask if they could help.  Who would ever believe we were native New Yorkers!!  On our way to the site we passed "Occupy Wall Street".

We spent 1/2 hour snaking through the line to gain admittance to the memorial.  Our tickets were for 5:00, we got there at 5:15 and were in by 5:45.  How different the feeling was once you stepped inside.  Very sobering.  Impossible not to be moved by the atmosphere even though there was all kinds of construction going on around it.

The 1% at "Occupy Wall Street" on our way home.

Nadine and I went to a subway station and were happily surprised that we could each get the trains we needed from the same track.  I got to Grand Central and was able to hop on my Metro North train that left within 5 minutes of my arrival.