Oodles of Doodles!...

 

Hello and Happy Birthday America...I love this holiday...as I love the colors red, white and blue...I love hot dogs...I love baseball....I love marching bands and to sum it all up...I love "Good Americans."So Hat's Off to all of you!" Let us salute and celebrate...

Dutiful Americans...

Adventurous Americans....

Brave Americans...

Historical Americans...

Playful Americans....

Shiny and Youthful Americans...

Fuzzy Americans....

Colorful and Artistic Americans...

Sparky Americans.....

And  My American Dad....

No wonder my Mother fell in love with him.

So this weekend I will Hip-Hip and Hooray for all of the Americans...Let us all toot our kazoos... stick a feather in our party hats and enjoy several tasty hot dogs while smiling at our Stars and Stripes. Speaking of stripes...it is the one occasion of the year when it is flattering to all to wear  horizontal stripes... as this is your patriotic duty.

 Have "Yankee Doodle Came to Town a-riding on a Pony" fun,   Jody, the Proud American

Oh...and take those firecrackers out of your pocket.

Adventures at the Cape...Final Chapter

Hello...I will wrap up our Cape Cod Odyssey today as you are probably thinking...still? Well, I don't have that many silly adventures with fun friends...so bear with me here. Leslie, drove us hither and yon(strange phrase, isn't it?) Pat, Rosanne and I took an abundance of snapshots of both Hither and Yon...

This is "Bubbles" the whale in Provincetown... We had motored to Land's End....but the literal kind, not the canvas bag and golf shirt kind!

As you can see we have a new "mate" joining us. This is Beth Atherton, our friend who popped in on her way to her home in Maine. She was a welcome addition. We all decided that dining at the edge of the ocean makes the food tastier.

While we were in a sweatshirt store...our fancy friend, Rosanne, found a sparkly jewelry store. I feared that a greedy pirate might try to snatch and grab her sparkles...but, fortunately, she fended off any disasters. I noted that she had an extra spark in her step now.

Imagine my delight when we saw this fireworks display of lobster buoys...

Isn't Leslie a fancy hostess. I could barely sleep at night knowing that she would whip up some new taste treat.

 

As you can see we made some frosty stops along the way..

We stimulated the economy...like good little Americans doing our civic duty. Leslie had a lucky day. She was the envy of this peer...

You know the expression "She shopped till she dropped"...fortunately we didn't have to call the paramedics...but it was touch and go for a few minutes.

We were running out of days and we hadn't begun Pat's project. It was definitely not for beginners...she downloaded our photos and printed them for us to make snappy little tote bags. Leslie suggested that we make clutch bags instead...Pat thought "Yikes"...so we switched plans. Sadly I did not complete mine yet, so these are the parts. Hopefully Pat will post hers on her blog.

I guess Leslie isn't the only Empress of Cape Cod. See how much fun we had?

Rosanne...heaving a sigh of relief as she prepares for her coronation....

Here is Pat...she is in deep thought...or preparing to break into song...we will never know.

The happy campers... plus Homer, the happiest of all as he spied our suitcases ready and waiting for our departure. I am disappointed to report that we did not grab some pots and wooden spoons to parade down Leslie's street. Common decency prevailed...maybe next time.

I jammed all of my purchases, art projects and warm memories in my carry-ons. Leslie...a heartfelt thank you to you, Jack and Homer, also...Leslie, Pat, Rosanne, Beth, Marc and Rick...I have put all of the giggles and sparky memories in my pocket and I will carry them with me always. Maybe that is why my jeans got so tight... I will stop now before I break into song.

Have "pocketful of memories" fun,    Jody, the lucky girl in Georgia

"The Leslie's Crown Affair"

Hello...You haven't heard the last of our adventures. Okay, like I said earlier...we started with my silly paper project.

We did some shopping...note that Pat and I got some new spectacles. They are readers that we are going to replace the lenses with our prescriptions. We were pleased as punch with ourselves.

Leslie pulled out her crown...now you must know that we did not know that Leslie was an Empress. As it turned out...this was her project for us. This turned out to be a royal task as she had set the bar very high...

The Empress pulled out the stops...she shared her bounty with us and we were off to the races....easier said than done.

Our happy friend Rosanne Migliorino arrived at this point...her late arrival was due to her important job obligations. Poor Rosanne probably thought that she could relax and put her feet up...Nope, Leslie pulled out a chair and handed her a pair of scissors. Not only is she a successful executive...she a a dandy little artist.

Leslie's "Ode to Mother Nature!" Maybe she really is an Empress...

Pat Murphy's  regal nod to America and Man's Best Friend. Her buddy Oscar...

Rosanne's very lady-like head-dress...this photo was taken before she embellished it with ribbon and shells.

My crown...Can you see how diverse our finished products were? We all sat at the same table with the same resources and yet each one was unique.

Off I go... as there are still more memories in my back pocket to share with you. So until next time.

Have silly "to be continued" fun,   Jody, the Cape Cod Princess-in-Waiting

The Party's Over....

Hello Again...After a "chock-full-o-fun" ten days, I have returned to FunTown. The days zoomed by at warp speed...I guess that's what happens when you are surrounded by dear friends, daily adventures and gales of laughter. As you can surmise from the above photo...I heart Cape Cod. Would you like to see Leslie's Cape?

As you round the corner...can you hear me ooh and ahh?

This is the "House that Jack Built" not literally, but Leslie, Jack and Homer call it home. As the days progressed Leslie was a tad nervous, as I was getting a little too familiar, as I referred to it as my home also.
Take note for future house guest etiquette...that suitcase in the bedroom has a time limit.

I will start at the beginning...Here is Leslie, our generous hostess getting the first morning off with a firecracker...note the freshly picked peonies and don't ignore the tasty muffins. It will become crystal clear to you why she had to pry my greedy little hands off the door frame when the time had come to depart.

We not only laugh and shop...we also prepare a dandy art project to share with each other.  I decided to have us "paint with colorful paper" this is a snappy way of saying " cut and paste"...as you will see in the coming days my students made me proud. Above is Pat Murphy  and Leslie McCabe...Homer, Leslie's fuzzy companion is bored to tears snuggled up under Leslie's cute little shoes.

Dancing fingers!

I wonder what she is pondering? Maybe..."Why the heck am I cutting out paper when we could be antiquing?"

I am signing off for today...as I don't want you to lose interest. I made good use of my new snapshooter and I have lots of photos to sort through. Stay tuned...as the other guests have not yet arrived and there are lots of tales to tell.

Have silly pink lemonade fun,   Jody, the grateful house guest

P.S. Leslie didn't offer me the key to the front door...should I be offended?  Hmmm...

Hide your Lobsters...

Hello....or should I say "Ahoy Mateys?"... It is that magical time of year when I sail off to the high seas! Well...I may be a tad dramatic here. Actually, my generous good friend Leslie McCabe, the "Captain" of our adventure, has invited me and some of her mates to join her in her new home in Cape Cod...Yarmouth Port, to be exact...maybe I shouldn't have divulged that as there might be pirates reading my blog. Oops!

 Five years ago Captain Leslie decided to have a gathering of some of her creative friends to come and share and teach an artsy project. Let's refer to it as "The SisterHood of the Dancing Fingers." We not only create...we laugh, we shop, we share a little wine and we devour Lobster Rolls....on a daily basis.

The sailors...Pat Murphy, Diana Card, Rosanne Migliorino, Leslie, of course and I are packing up our gear...suntan lotion, sunglasses, bikinis and binoculars...(just in case we should spot a whale.) So, I will be away from my magic typewriter for ten days...but when I return I will share my snapshots with all of you.

Have silly "Shiver Me Timbers" fun,   Jody,  the lobster hunter

P.S. there will be an empty spot at our picnic table...Krys Kirkpatrick couldn't sign on for our voyage...Krys, you will be missed.

The Doggy in the Window...

Hello...This is my dog Pip-Squeak...He is my fierce protector...always on the lookout for intruders. His "bone of contention" as it were...of late is the ever-growing squirrel population in "his territory." He guards his post at the front and back doors and so far he has been quite successful as not one squirrel has gotten  inside our house. Hooray for Pip!

Here is one of the greedy little varmints that keeps trying to burglarize our bird feeder out back. Pip dares them to cross his path. If I should see a squirrel...all that I need to say is "SQUIRREL" and Bingo...he dashes to the bird feeder and starts to bark menacingly. A strange thing happened last evening. While watching Jeopardy...Alex, posed an "answer" and I correctly responded "Curl" out loud to show off to my husband Tim that I knew the answer...At that moment....Pip woke from a pleasant nap and ran to the door.. he found nary a squirrel...he was confused, but I was quite amused. Maybe this was one of those "had to be there" stories.

 I have heard a rumor that the grateful neighborhood birds are taking up a collection to buy Pip a bag of "Dingos" his favorite treat.

Have silly Pip-Tails" fun,    Jody, his best friend