Kathleen Smith's Blog, page 6

Christmas Then and Now

Hey, It’s Christmas time! I thought about writing a post about decorating the house and sending out Christmas cards and then I realized I already did those posts a couple of years ago. And then I started to think about what Christmas was like growing up, what it was like while my kids were growing up, and what it’s like now. That got me thinking about things that have changed and things that have stayed the same. That got me thinking of Christmas then and now.

When I was growing up I loved Christmas time. I loved decorating the tree with my parents. I loved Christmas Eve with my dad’s family and a house filled with loud Italians laughing and eating all night. I loved playing with my cousins who I only got to see once a year on Christmas Eve. I loved it all! When my kids were little I loved cutting down our own tree and decorating it with them. I loved watching them get excited about Christmas and spending time with their cousins at grandma’s house. That was Christmas then. Now I still enjoy decorating our tree and putting on all of our ornaments from different places we’ve been to. I love spending Christmas with my family, especially my two grandchildren, and I love the new memories we are making. That is Christmas now.

I have always loved decorating the house for Christmas. Growing up living in two-family homes there wasn’t much I could do so I made the best of it. When my husband and I bought our first house I was excited that I had a place of my own where I could put up Christmas lights. I remember when we had a small deck built in the front of our house I was all excited that I had a place to put lights on the outside of our house. That was Christmas then. These days I am able to elaborate a little more with our Christmas lights on the outside of the house we now live in along with putting them around the front door and all that good stuff. That is Christmas now.

Last, but certainly never least there are Christmas cards. I can remember when I was growing up watching my mom write out Christmas cards. I remember walking past the dining room table seeing her sit there as she wrote out each card and addressed each envelope. I suppose that put a rather strong impression on me because that is something that has always meant a lot to me. That was Christmas then. These days, well actually for the past twenty-six years now I have been sending out our Christmas cards. I started with boxed cards from Walmart to taking a picture of our kids each year as they grew up for a Christmas photo card to putting together a collage of pictures of my family and our trips and such on our cards each year. This is something I love doing, but fear that it is becoming a lost art for most people. This is Christmas now.

So these are my Christmas’s then and now. Do you have any Christmas traditions that you still do with your family? Is there anything around Christmas time that you use to do that you may or may not still do? Maybe there is a tradition you would like to start with your family. I would love to hear from you if you are reading this post. And I would like to wish you all a Very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

He’s Still in Control

He’s still in control! Now before you go all ballistic on me and think I might be talking about President Trump, I’m not. So if you will please bear with me and keep reading I would appreciate it.

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Last Tuesday like so many others I voted. And at the time I was feeling pretty good about my vote. Yes, I voted for Trump. As the day was nearing the end I wasn’t feeling too good about this election. By the time I went to bed and was listening to the news go on about which candidate was getting which states I was getting a bad feeling. I was having a lot of trouble reminding myself that He’s still in control. It didn’t take long for me to realize I had to step away from social media and not read about all the people and news media that were saying Biden won.

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A little bit of a side note here, If you would like to listen to my podcast Kathleen’s Korner you can listen to My 2 Cents about all of this and other related podcasts as well.

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I had to remind myself it doesn’t matter what these people say. What matters is what the numbers say and as far as I was concerned the numbers weren’t adding up. Not when I can see how many Trump supporters are out there. Again, I need to remind myself that He’s still in control. Not Trump though. The person I am referring to is God. Yeah, I did it I went and put God in this. I have been reminding myself for the last week that God is in control of all of this. Yeah, I believe the Liberals are cheating and lying, but I still believe God is in control. And yeah I do hope and pray there is a recount in those important states. You might be thinking no there is no reason for a recount. But think about it, IF the liberals didn’t cheat and if they aren’t lying then they shouldn’t have a problem with a recount. Only people with something to hide would have a problem with that.

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At the end of the day what it all comes down to really is that God is in control of this situation. HE knows what’s going on. HE knows what’s going to happen. HE knows the future of this country. In all honesty, I would love it if God gave Trump four more years as our President, BUT if HE so chooses to put Biden in as president for whatever reason, I will need to accept that. I won’t like it, but I NEED to TRUST God not man. He is in control – NOT man.

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

Facing My Flying Fears With the Concord

Growing up I always dreamed about going to Europe. More specifically I wanted to go to Italy, Ireland, and France. Why those countries? Well, Italy and Ireland because that’s where my family is from. France is because I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. The problem with going to these places meant flying over a large body of water, the Atlantic Ocean, which was a no for me. I was scared to fly over any large amounts of water, so Europe remained a dream.

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Then I got married and my husband and I talked about traveling to Europe with those three countries specifically in mind. Again my biggest problem was flying over the Atlantic. I had such a fear of doing that, that I always told my husband “unless you can figure out a different way of getting there it isn’t happening”. I also told him taking a cruise ship to Europe wasn’t happening either. We talked and dreamed for years…

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On our 22nd wedding anniversary, we took a weekend trip to New York City. While there we took a tour of the Concord. The Concord is a retired supersonic passenger jet that is at the Intrepid Air and Space Museum in downtown Manhattan. That was a rather small plane in a way. It would only hold so many people and there was only so much room in it. But while we were sitting on those plane seats, I was listening to the tour guide, looking out the window, and looking all around me. My husband took one look at me and said “You’re thinking about flying to Europe, aren’t you”? There was no denying that was on my mind. I started to think that maybe I could face my fear of flying over the Atlantic somehow with my husband’s help.

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Just under a year after touring the Intrepid we started our traveling. One day my husband told me we were going to take a family trip to Ireland. I looked at him and laughed. I was like we don’t even have passports. Well, that little detail was taken care of and we started planning our first trip to Ireland. Now, I have to tell you I was so scared about flying over the Atlantic that my stomach started hurting. I mean, it was hurting so bad I almost had my husband take me to the ER, but he assured me it was stress from my fear of flying.

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He was right. I remember that night when we all finally got on that plane and it started taking off for Ireland. I was SO scared! But, we made it safely and had an amazing time in Ireland. I faced that fear and since then we have actually flown back to Ireland a couple of times. We have now also been to Italy, France, Germany, Scotland, Wales, Switzerland, and even India! I can’t say that I’m over that fear per se, but I will tell you that I am willing to face it now because of all the amazing things and places I’ve been able to go to and do.

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I think I owe a lot to that tour of the concord and sitting in that plane seat while I listened to the tour guide. It was kind of a push for me to tell myself that I can do it and oh, what a journey it’s been since!

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY. You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

The Mountains of Wyoming

Good day to you! Or good evening whatever the case may be for where ever you are in this world right now. So I was thinking about writing a blog post about the upcoming Presidential election, the debates, and what I think. And then I thought to myself no one cares what I think nor do they want to read another blog on politics. Then I thought why not write a post about the mountains in Wyoming after all they are quite the sight to see!

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I think it’s funny the fact that I was brought up in Brooklyn, New York and yet I love the mountains. I can stare at them for hours and not be bored. I always thought Upstate New York had the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen in the states. And then I went to Wyoming for a family vacation back in August and saw their mountains. The mountains in Wyoming are amazing. They are majestic. They are quite the sight to behold and drive through.

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These mountains are some of the highest mountains in the United States. And I can tell you from experience you need to make sure you stay hydrated while in this area. While we were there I noticed how some of the mountains looked like they were made out of clay. They had this brownish color to them and it reminded me of the Grand Canyon, not that I’ve been to that. I’ve only seen pictures, but still. Driving through this particular part of the Wyoming mountains had me in awe. They had me thinking, what an amazing God we have. They also reminded me of Noah’s Ark with the way they were formed.

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I can remember while we were driving up the mountains I kept looking up at them. I can remember thinking I’ve never seen mountains like these! At least in the States anyway. The height. The color. The depth. And seeing some rocks on the tips of these mountains hanging by a thread, so to speak. Oh, be forewarned, if you do drive up and down and through the Wyoming mountains there is often NO cell phone signal. There are toilet stops, but no cell phone signals.

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

Eating at Café Boulud New York at Blantyre

Eating at Cafe Boulud New York at Blantyre, try saying that three times fast! I should have written about my food experience at Blantyre last week. In all honesty, I forgot. So I am trying to come up with the right words in this week’s blog. Not that my experience at Blantyre was bad, quite the opposite. It was wonderful. The place is gorgeous. The food was delicious. The workers are kind and nice to chat with. Overall it’s a great place to eat and wander around thanks to chef Daniel Boulud the Michelin star chef who owns Café Boulud in Manhattan. When dining in NYC continued to be shutdown, they opened up Café Boulud in one of the amazing guilded age mansions in Lenox, MA.

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Let me tell you that Balantyre, the house this restaurant is in, is beautiful in and of itself. The rooms are beautiful. The outdoor scenery is pretty. The staff is nice. The atmosphere is pleasant. The decor is elegant. And the customers get treated like they are at a Michelin star restaurant as I said above. Let’s talk about the food now, shall we?

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My appetizer was a chilled corn soup with shrimp. For the most part, I loved it. I don’t care for shrimp, but I thought I would give it a try anyway. I tried it, I didn’t care for the shrimp, but that’s not their fault. The rest of the soup was good and I would definitely eat that again.

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Since we were there for Brunch my main dish, believe it or not, was pancakes. Yes, I said pancakes. They normally come with blueberries, but I don’t like blueberries so they were kind enough to make the pancakes plain. Oh, they did come with ricotta cream. Those pancakes were the biggest, thickest pancakes I ever had and they were so good!

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My dessert was a chocolate lava cake that was baked to perfection. The chocolate flowed out of that cake just right and was the perfect temperature. The cream that came with that was also delicious along with the single shot of espresso I had.

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I really can’t say enough good things about this place. It was one of the nicest meals I had. The staff was wonderful. And the company I had (my husband) was a delight to be with. I would highly recommend this place to people. The restaurant is open at least through October as the dining experience in NYC is currently shut down. At some point it will close down and they will go back to the city. I hope they come back to our area again next year, or make the cafe a more permanent fixture in the Berkshires. I hope you can get reservations while they are still here, you won’t be sorry.

Kathleen Smith is an indie Author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

Exploring Yellowstone National Park

About two weeks ago give or take a couple of days my husband, daughter, and I went on vacation to Yellowstone National Park. I would like to add that this was also for my birthday. We’ve never been to Yellowstone and in all honesty, we went with very little expectations. We didn’t know what to expect from this national park nor did we think there would be that much to do. Boy, were we wrong! We had so much fun at Yellowstone! We spent a couple of days there and we decided at the beginning of our trip to buy the national park annual pass. That cost us eighty dollars and it was worth every penny. That pass paid for itself super fast.

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We did a lot of driving through Yellowstone. We also made a bunch of stops. Most of them were to use the toilets which by the way were extremely clean for an “outhouse”. I mean those toilets put Walmart to shame they were that clean. Anyway, driving around and through Yellowstone was truly amazing! We were constantly on the lookout for wild animals. We did get to see some deer, but the animal we saw the most of was bison. We saw so many of them I was starting to get a bit tired of seeing the bison. We got some cool pictures and some videos too.

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We did manage to see some bears, my absolute favorite animal of all time. We saw a mama bear with her two cubs in the distance in some woods. One day my daughter spotted a bear by itself walking behind some trees and it eventually crossed the road in front of us. That bear made my day! Yep, got some pictures of that and videos too.

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We went to see Old Faithful, which I honestly had no idea what it was. I’ve always known about it but had no idea it was a rather famous geyser with a lot of other smaller geysers near it. I also had no idea that Old Faithful and all these other very hot geysers are all apart of one big volcano. They were all amazing to look at and walk around from a distance, but every time I was reminded that they are apart of a volcano all I could think to myself was “why are we on a volcano?” Says the girl who drove and walked up Vesuvius in Italy.

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The mountains in Yellowstone are another incredible sight to see! The way the rocks form and the rivers flow through them are majestic. I’ve always thought the mountains in Upstate New York were beautiful to look at and they are, but the mountains in Yellowstone, they are so tall! They can almost take your breath away and with the high altitude and my asthma they just about did take my breath away. These mountains are something everyone needs to see for themselves.

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One last thing before I finish this blog. The sunset in Wyoming is absolutely beautiful. I’ve never seen a sunset quite like it. As we drove through Yellowstone one night we stopped to use the toilet at one of the rest areas and ended up staying for a while so we could take in the scenery. We watched as the sun slowly set behind the mountains. It truly was beautiful. Also, we listened to the Gypsy Tour Guide while we drove through and around Yellowstone so we knew when and where to stop and look at certain attractions. We found that guide to be helpful.

Kathleen Smith is an indie Author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

A Weekend Getaway With The Sound of Music

It’s a miracle! Last weekend my husband and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary. No, that is not the miracle. The miracle is that with all that is going on these days we were actually able to go away for that weekend, just the two of us. We went to Stowe, Vermont, and stayed at the Trapp Family Lodge. If you have no idea who that family is then I will be happy to explain. The Von Trapp Family is the real family from the movie The Sound of Music. This family has quite the story going from Austria and migrating to America. I love watching The Sound of Music so when I found out a couple of years ago that they settled in Vermont and have a family lodge I wanted to go to it. I didn’t know it would take over seven years to get there, but hey better late than never.

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Anyway, the Trapp Family Lodge is a beautiful place to visit with the Green Mountains surrounding them. I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect, but their place is nice and the rooms are comfortable. Have you ever heard the saying “a room with a view?” That’s exactly what we had, a room with a beautiful view of the mountains. We also had a small balcony with two chairs where we could relax, talk, eat, look at the mountains, and watch the clouds slowly move over the sun as it set.

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The food we had on the night of our anniversary was beyond good! We ordered a pretzel with cheese, fruit, and some meat for an appetizer. That appetizer was so delicious I could have had that for my supper and I would have been satisfied.

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My main course was a bratwurst in a bun with some potato salad and sauerkraut. That food was so good I ate it ALL!

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Dessert for me was a coffee-flavored creme brulée with some espresso. That was one of the best tasting meals I have ever had. I was kind of sorry that the food was all gone. My husband had an apple streusel with his espresso.

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The following day we decided to take a walk up to the family chapel. It’s about a ten-minute walk almost completely uphill from the lodge to the woods. To me, this chapel was well worth the walk. I got to see where the Von Trapp family prayed and I got to spend a few minutes taking it all in. In my opinion, it’s about the closest I’m getting to a ruin for this summer.

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Like the sign says on the drive to the lodge you get to experience a little of Austria with a lot of Vermont. Another thing that is cool about the place is it’s still run by the Von Trapp Family. Even though Maria Von Trapp and Captain Von Trapp passed away years ago, they still have family running this lodge. I think that is pretty cool.

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Since we visited during the time of COVID, there were some extra things to consider. One was that you had to make sure you were allowed to stay there according to the rules of the state of Vermont. If you are worried about social distancing, don’t be. The families who stay there keep their distance just fine and face masks are required when going from your room to the restaurant or where ever you might be heading towards. And the tables in the restaurant and on the outside are at least six feet apart from each other.

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

Eating at the Black & Blue

I love eating out with my husband! We don’t go out to eat alone that often so I guess that’s why I love going when we do. Did that make any sense? Anyway, we haven’t been able to eat out since March when this whole shut down started. Yep, we haven’t gone out to eat together in four long months. We could have gone to Ruby Tuesday’s and ate in their parking lot about two weeks ago, But I told my husband I would prefer to wait for the Black & Blue to open up. That’s our favorite restaurant and we knew it would be worth the wait. Well, guess what? Last Friday the Black & Blue Steak and Crab restaurant in Albany, New York opened up and we went there for supper! It was great!

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The Black and Blue has some of the tastiest food I’ve ever had. They start you out with some fresh rolls and pretzel bread with some butter. That butter is really good, and that pretzel bread is so delicious we always ask for more. They also ask us if we would like some wine, but since we don’t drink we always ask for sparkling water.

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Their main dishes consist of different meat options, like a New York strip steak, filet mignon, and other steaks. They have a couple of seafood dishes to choose from as well, but since I don’t care much for fish and I love my meat that’s what I go for. In fact, I always order the 7oz filet mignon. That is my favorite piece of meat there and they almost always make it to perfection.

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Black and Blue has several side options to choose from. They have mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, glazed sweet potato triangles, and a couple of more sides you can order. I haven’t tried them all, but the ones I have had I love. Choosing a favorite would be near impossible, but the sides I just mentioned I love.

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Let’s not forget the desserts. There are a few to choose from like molten lava cake and key lime pie. Both of which we ordered when we went there last Friday. If we had known that lava cake was going to be so big we would have only ordered that. I mean that cake can easily feed two and it was good.

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If you are concerned about going out to eat I can assure you this restaurant has taken every precaution to make sure there is safe distancing for their customers. In fact, the front room has considerably fewer tables than usual. There is without a doubt more than enough room between the tables for customers to have space. I personally like that room much better now. You don’t have to worry about backing your chair into someone else’s and you feel like you have some privacy when you are talking to the person you are with. In my case, I was with my husband having a lovely time. The Black & Blue Steak and Crab was worth waiting four months for. Thank you for opening up again and I pray you stay open!

Kathleen Smith is an indie author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

Living in Scary Times

For weeks now I’ve been telling my husband that we are living in scary times. You might be thinking that I’m talking about the corona-virus. You would only be partly right about that. I mean don’t get me wrong I don’t want to get that virus, but if I do I do. I also would rather not die from that. I would much rather live a nice long life with my husband and enjoy growing old together, but at the same time, I’m not afraid to get that virus.

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These days what I find way more scary then the corona-virus is how easily the people of America are willing to do whatever the government tells them to do. The government tells them to wear a face mask, they wear a face mask. No questions asked. I find that to be very scary. The news media tells Americans hundreds of thousands of people are dying from this virus alone to scare them and the American people believe it. The government for the longest time said to stay at home to save lives. The people stayed at home whether they were sick or not. Now, I totally get staying at home if you are sick. That’s plain common sense, but to stay at home because the government said to that doesn’t go over well with me.

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Since when do American’s do exactly what they are told without questioning something that sounds fishy or unrealistic? Since when don’t American’s fight for their rights. The American government is supposed to be there to help people, not tell them what to do and when to do it. I mean if we wanted that we would have stayed under the rule of the English government, but we didn’t want that. We wanted our freedom. Way back when our founding fathers understood that. These days not so much with our current government and that scares me.

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I know that we American’s still have a lot more freedom compared to other countries, but I worry that our freedom will slowly be taken away from us. And I worry even more that the current generation is totally okay with that. I worry that this current generation wants the government to tell us exactly what to do and when to do it. That is NOT freedom. That is TOTALLY and COMPLETELY SCARY.

Kathleen Smith is an indie Author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story 

Welcome Back, New York!

Welcome back, New York! It’s so nice to see you open. Okay, in all honesty not all of New York is open again. As far as I know, New York City is just bearly starting to open back up. BUT Upstate New York is and for me more importantly the Albany area has opened back up again as well as Saratoga, NY and other areas that I can drive to. (Yeah Me, LOL).

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Anyway, I can’t even begin to tell you how good it felt to walk around Saratoga last week with my husband. We walked up and down the streets of Saratoga, went into some stores, and bought some stuff. We bought a lot of stuff at the Irish import store which was my pleasure to do so. My husband bought a book at the book store and we bought some items at Putnam Market, but I can’t remember what now.

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The next day we went to Lennon’s Irish shop in Schenectady. OH, how good it felt to go into that store. This is our favorite Irish import store here in Upstate NY. We talked with the owner for a while and then again bought a bunch of stuff. We bought some candy for us. A pair of socks for our daughter and I bought a rock with a Celtic design on it.

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This week it was nice to see Kohl’s and Bed Bath and Beyond in Colonie open back up. We only looked around at that particular Kohl’s, but when we got to Bed Bath and Beyond there were people coming out of it with anywhere from two-five bags filled with items they bought. I can’t describe to you how good it felt to walk through these two stores and to purchase items at Bed Bath and Beyond.

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I’m looking forward to when Crossgates mall opens up next and I can walk around that with my husband and maybe buy something there too. Thank you so much Upstate New York for opening back up!

Kathleen Smith is an indie Author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story