Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Now that you’ve watched mine – Thank you very much! – Click here to make your own. And be sure to come back and post a comment with a link, so I can watch yours.
I’ve Been Elfed – 2011
Thanksgiving Turkey
Here is a new way to prep your
Thanksgiving turkey.
Just for fun, of course!
1. Cut out aluminum foil in desired shapes.
2. Arrange the turkey in the roasting pan.
3. position the foil carefully. (see photo)
4. Roast according to your own recipe and serve.
5. Watch your guests’ faces …
When you’re thru laughing, check out Healthy Holiday Eating Tips
Have you ever made a turkey like this?
What is your Thanksgiving menu this year?
Be sure to add a comment with your Thanksgiving traditions.
Motel New Yorker
I’m from Ohio. I call it home and always will. But, there were three years in the mid 60′s that took me to Miami, Florida. Dad decided we should pack up all our worldly possessions and drive 1,100 miles south, right behind hurricane Cleo.
We had a big, old Chrysler and a station wagon, pulling a trailer. This was actually our second trip. The first time, we drove down the Treasure Coast to Miami to find a motel to buy. Mom and dad had pretty much decided on one along US 1 in Miami. When we stopped for gas, dad asked the guy pumping the gas if he knew a good place to stay. (Remember when the gas station attendant pumped the gas?) His answer: “The Motel New Yorker.” That was the motel they were about to buy! That stretch of Biscayne Boulevard was one motel after another. Why did he pick that one? There must have been something special about it. That sealed the deal for dad.
Sure they were making the right choice, they bought the motel. We moved into the manager’s apartment behind the office, plus the next 2 motel rooms. It was crowded, but it was temporary. After a year, we moved to a home in North Miami.
The motel did well, especially during “the season.” Those were the winter months. Vacationers stayed for several days or a week. But, some people stayed all winter. Dad said they were business owners. Either they were retired or they were able to leave their business in the hands of their employees.
Originally, the motel looked like this in 1953 when it was built:
I got to thinking about the motel and all the changes thru the years. The neighborhood was good when we were there in the 60′s. The motel was named the New Yorker to attract visitors from New York. Miami was a popular destination for them. After mom and dad sold it, the neighborhood deteriorated and so did the motel. There were a couple of name changes that I’m aware of. The Motel New Yorker became the Motel Quebec. I’m guessing demographics changed and more visitors were coming from Canada. Or maybe the motel was bought by Canadians. And it was also called Davis Motel for a while.
But, I heard there was a restoration project along Biscayne Boulevard. Curiosity got the best of me and I googled MOTEL NEW YORKER MIAMI. To my surprise, the Motel New Yorker has been renovated and there is even a website to explore: www.HotelNewYorkerMiami.com . The owners, Walter and Shirley Figueroa, have done a great job restoring the motel with a retro look. Visit their site for more information and a photo gallery.
Today, the Motel New Yorker looks like this:
Photos compliments of www.TheBorrowedAbode.com
If you’ve ever stayed at the Motel New Yorker in Miami – Or if you know the area and have seen the transformation, add a comment with your memories.
Fall Foliage 2011 – Part 2
I’ve been watching the Fall Foliage map. Northeast Ohio is near peak and quickly approaching the peak. Draped around Cleveland is the Cleveland Metroparks, also known as the Emerald Necklace. You can drive slowly – mostly 25 and 30 MPH – thru the park for hours. The southernmost part of the park is where I chose to take my pictures.
It’s been a spectacular fall. Here are the pictures I took over the last couple of days.
Click the large image to advance the slides.
Hover over the small images and move the cursor left and right to see and choose any image.
I invite you to add a comment with links to your fall foliage photos, too.
Blog Theme Update
For the last several months, every time I login to my blog dashboard, I see the updates that are patiently waiting for me. I’ve been able to ignore them for a while, but I knew that eventually I would have to do it. Computers are a delicate balance of hardware, software and operator know-how. If you upgrade one, you invariably have to upgrade the other two. I’ve been advised by GoDaddy.com
tech support, my hosting company, that updates are important and shouldn’t be put off.
So … Tonight is the night. I’m updating my blog theme, PrimePress.
It always sounds easy to do … Just click the update button and the magic takes place beyond where I can see. I just wait for the “Update successful” message. But, it’s never quite that easy. The update message indicated that it could take up to 2 hours to complete, but it took less than 20 seconds. “Update successful.” I breathed a sigh of relief. But, when I opened my blog, I gasped! It looked like I lost the theme. The posts were there, but all the pages were listed as live links across the top, above the header. The background was gone, the header reverted to the default rotating images, all my sidebar widgets were missing and the default calendar, meta info and categories were there instead.
So, I spent the next several hours working to put this blog back the way it was. When I started this blog two years ago, I customized the theme. I knew I made some changes to the template files, but didn’t document them. After a few changes, I learned that most of the customized code belongs in the custom.css file. That way, it’s all in one place.
Luckily, I took time to prepare before I updated.
- I backed up my blog thru my hosting account.
- I downloaded the backup to my computer.
- In addition, I saved an extra copy of the theme’s template files.
- I opened my blog as it was before the update, so I had a reference point.
NOTE: Next time I’ll save screenshots.
The results …
Health Talk Today Blog looks pretty much as it did before the update. The white area above the header used to be the same dark green color as the border background. If I can find it, I’ll change it, but it looks OK the way it is. I just changed the title “HEALTH TALK TODAY from a baby boomer perspective” from white to dark green. And I changed a few of the sidebar widgets.
I need your help …
I’ve done the best I could to make sure everything is working. Please let me know if you find broken links, invisible ink (white on white or green on green) or any other errors. I appreciate your help. Just leave a comment and I’ll fix what I can. Thanks.
