What do you think?

Should we buy this fountain or not? It is beautiful and it will fit in our back yard beautifully. The color is great, it makes beautiful sounds and the birds are going to love it. We sure are starting the new Year right. 

Good 2005 wishing you all a wonderful 2006

2005 was a very good year for us. Our home mortgage was paid, Bill’s business was very good, our health has been very good, Travel to NJ too many times but got many things accomplished; family weddings, parties and just visiting friends. I started collecting Social Security, just love it. The several hurricanes that past throught south Florida did very little damage to our home. Families are well; one cousin of Bill’s has had some health issues but in all we are fine. All of our friends are also well. My volunteer work is going well. The museum of Art is having King Tut exhibition which is going very well (10K) has already seen it since December 15th, Stonewall library is also doing well and next year will move to a new building near the current location. I have also worked helping Bill with his website http://www.cowanandcaruso.com/ go and visit.

Next year promises to be even better. We have already purchased a trip to central Europe in the spring. We are going to Berlin, Poland, Prague, Budapest, and Vienna.
Bill will continue with real-estate for two more years and hopefully extensive travel will be the order of the day after that.

We hope of our friends had a great 2005 and a better 2006. It is so amazing how fast time passes. I can not believe that I have been retire December 1999.

My sister's Christmas Gift to Bill and I

What a beautiful crystal sculpture.

Beautiful ornaments!

Bill and I went shopping today with my sister Betty her husband Tony and their children Christopher and Laura. We had so much fun going to the stores buying half price Christmas ornaments.

This one was given to us by Betty and Tony. It is a beautiful Christmas card created by Christopher Radko. It has a place in the back were it can be dedicated.




The Florida post card is also a Christopher Radko 20th anniversary ornament.
Bill bought that one for me.





The children looking into Santa Clause Shop is also a Christopher Radko. Which I gave to Bill

Nativity Scene given to us by my nice Laura

Thanks you Laura for the wonderful gift. We are going to put it below the treee but we will need a better base for it. As soon as we get it set up will send you a picture.
We love it thanks again! 

New Member of the Family MAX!!!!

Christopher brought to Betty's home his new dog Max. The whole family feel in love with him. A miniature Dobelman Pincher. Max is a very active Dog but very lovable. It is safe to say that Max took our hearts. Welcome MAX

My New Dell

Just got it, Dimension 9150. Very fast with a 20 inch monitor, wow what a difference it makes.

Friday at the Movies

King Kong
Was a very long movie but it had value in the exciting effects on the movie. The sets were tremendous; the customs and Gorillas special effects are worth the price of admission. The leading lady of the movie acts the facial expression with such of loving manner that you believe that the Gorilla i s in love with her, and she really cares for the Gorilla. The scenes at the Empire State Building are pretty fabulous. I think it will not make up the $200 millions but kids will rent it and parents will benefit from the length of the picture entertaining the kids.


Syriana is a very complex movie which I liked but wished that Clooney would have make it less shopped up and less complicated. The Second Son really does not play a part and it is such a center part of the movies and the reason why the USA supports the Royal family of Saudi Arabia. Well acted and photographed.

Thursday Day at the Movies!

Thursday was the day this week to go to the movies. The Chronicles of Narnia was a good movie to bring the children. It was well acted by 4 child actors and the setting and clothing were great. The story was trite but I am sure the young kids and their parents will enjoy the time at the movies. Not many people at the movies these days.

Then I went to Aeon Flux a complete waist of talent. Not sure why the make movies like this. Save your money.

The ice harvest, a well acted movie with a familiar twist at the end. Not sure it is worth your trip to the movies, as a filler was fine.

I thought I was going to see Syriana but for some reason the theater did not have a copy of the movie even though they advertise that the movie was showing. Well I just went into Rent for the second time, still love it and really recommend for all of you to go and see it. The music is awesome.

See you at the movies!

Our Christmas Tree 2005

Just finished the tree. It was easy this year with the new skinny already with light trees. 3 parts and very little messing around with the branches. Hope you all like it. We love it. Merry Christmas to you all, and a very healthy New Years

The Egyptian Alphabet

King Tut is almost here in Fort Lauderdale. We as docent are starting to get ready for touring the exhibit. One of the things that we are trying to understand is Hieroglyphic alphabet. The Egyptian alphabet consists mainly of consonants. These are the signs that represent a single sound; there are many more that signify more than a sound,

Bill at 5 years old

We got this picture from Aunt Mary's pictures after she died. Look at all the hair that Bill had at that age. It is wonderful to have such a remembrance from your childhood. This was taken in Newark, NJ 1950

Thursday at the movies

Rent – What a great movie. I had not seen the play and basically never heard the music before. I cannot tell you how much I liked it. The kids

playing the parts were great; they really seem to enjoy their life and their struggles. The voices are something to behold. The Black lawyer’s voice is tremendous; his girl friend attitude was also great. It has been long times were a long movie goes so fast and brings up so much emotions.
I really recommended to everyone.

I also saw Mine, Yours, and Ours a very funny movie taking the old theme of two large families being forced to merge by their parent’s mirage. They were high-school sweethearts and the kids are very different. One set very strict discipline the other completely free spirit. They learn to love each other and together reunite their parents.

Also saw Bang Bang Your are Dead. Dark movie but very interesting how they tell the story. Sometimes you wander if this is for real. I guess Hollywood is really a freak show.

Ulla Darnie lamp shade

Enjoy our christmas present to ourselves. We just got an Ulla Darnie original for out family room eating area. It is beautiful, the colors match all of the color of the room furnitures and art work. It was expensive but well worth it.
We hope you like it.

Iguanas having sex in my back yard!!!

The situation here in south Florida is getting out of hand with the Iguanas. They are becoming more relaxed with humans and after Wilma they are coming out in groves. I gues their housing has been destroyed; therefore, they are taking over the back yards of homes without dogs or cats. I do not believe they have a natural enemy present in our back yard. Does anyone out here in the blog world knows what to do to stop this intrusions? 

Christopher returns to his ship today!

5:00 AM Sunday Morning. We are taking Christopher back to his Ship in Fort lauderdale. We had a great time. Last night he met some of his ships mate and went out in the town. He went to las Olas area and had a very nice time.
He is in his last year of service. Is staring to think about finnishing college and start a busniess career. 

Christopher's Visit

My Godson Christopher came to visit us tonight. We had diner at Mango’s in Las Olas Blvd. Then Bill bought a beautiful lamp by Ulla Darni. Ana the salesperson gave Christopher a beautiful fish as a gift for being so nice.
Christopher is in the Navy and his ship is in port. He will be here until Sunday, were the ship goes back on maneuver.
His mother is visiting el Salvador for the week. Bill and I are very happy with Christopher’s visit. We wish we could have Laura and Danny here too.
Christopher and Lena his girl friend make the nice picture.

Trees against the Family Room

As you can see the fance and all the trees around the fance were pushed against the family room doors. We remove all the trees and fance. The place looks so empty. The sun really hits the family room now. We may be forced to put shutters on the door to keep the sun out of the family room. 

Lost of trees

It is so hard to talk about the loss from a hurricane. Here I am one of the luckiest people in the world, not really having real damage to my home and still feeling depress from the aftermath of Wilma. The neighborhood is so devastated from the effects of the win that it really is depressing me as the day passes. The area that we live is so nice and was so full of trees, that it is depressing to see how much the sun will affect our lives in the future. I will have to change the way my family room is arranged. I will have to put new blinds to keep the sun from really affecting our day time TV watching. I room is so much brighter now that it is hard to sit there in the afternoon. One of the trees that has to be cut down really provided the shade that I really did not appreciated before. I just wonder what will happen to other people that had more trees than I had, the country Club near us really can be seen from the road, before it was completely hidden by the trees.
The impact of the lost of trees is not know yet, but I will bet that our electric bill will go higher and the damage from the sun will be seen in our furniture pretty soon.

Wilma Aftermath

Wilma caused lots of fence damage but Thank God no water or real property damage. Lots of trees and fences but the home held beautifully. You can see from the pictures that we had a lot of win but little debris flaying around that would cause damage. We were out of power for one week, telephone/DSL for 3 weeks. That was the worst of it, so we are counting our blessings. Hope the rest of our friends did as well as we did and that the next hurricane season be less powerful.

King Tut exhibit is coming to Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art. December 15 until April 25th 2006. 160 objects from the Golden Era of Pharos 18th Dynasty. Saveral items are from King Tut's Tumb.
Try to come and see it. it is well worth the price of entry. 

Richard the Iguana

Iguanas are coming out like crazy down here in Fort Lauderdale. The heat and by us having a pool, it seem like they love our home. Not sure what we can do to stop this invasion but they are coming by large umbers each day. They also have some bad manners, and leave their waste everywhere they wish. Here is an example of the big Papa of them all; we call him Richard from Richard and Liz night of the iguanas. If you know what we can do to keep this population down let us know.

DJIBOUTI Africa. Where my nephew Danny is deployed

The French Territory of the Afars and the Issas became Djibouti in 1977. Hassan Gouled APTIDON installed an authoritarian one-party state and proceeded to serve as president until 1999. Unrest among the Afars minority during the 1990s led to a civil war that ended in 2001 following the conclusion of a peace accord between Afar rebels and the Issa-dominated government. Djibouti's first multi-party presidential elections in 1999 resulted in the election of Ismail Omar GUELLEH. Djibouti occupies a very strategic geographic location at the mouth of the Red Sea and serves as an important transshipment location for goods entering and leaving the east African highlands. The present leadership favors close ties to France, which maintains a significant military presence in the country, but has also developed increasingly stronger ties with the United States in recent years. Djibouti currently hosts the only United States military base in sub-Saharan Africa and is a front-line state in the global war on terrorism

Thursday movie day!

Thursday I went to the movies. Not a big week for the cinema. First I enjoyed the Constant Gardner very much. Well acted and with enough trauma and suspense to keep you interested the entire time. I suggest spending the time to see it.
Then I walked into the Transporter 2 full of action and wonderful car chase seen. The end was evident and the acting just enough to keep you in your seat. Miami never looked better; shots of the city downtown at night were amazing. If you leave in the area is worth seeing the pretty city in the big screen.
Then I went to see the underclassman. A young detective son of a dead detective, which is trying to do a good job as a young policeman. He is put in a high school situation were he discover the principal of the school involved in a drug trade for expensive cars ring. The ring is made of students that are forced to do the stealing of the cars for protection from the principal not telling their parents, that the kids have done stuff that would cause their suspension from their expensive high school..

Started getting my Social Security Check this month

Today I stared getting my Social Security check.  What a wonderful thing.  The only surprise was that my pension check dropped $300.00 since I started getting my Social Security benefit.  I looked back at my original statements from my pension and sure enough after my SSN benefit starts my pension goes down for that amount.  I am only writing about it to let people know that although the joy of getting more money it has a down side to it when getting a corporate pension.  I am very happy with my SSN benefit it does help the monthly cash flow, but the lost of the $300.00 does hurt in the budget side of things.  I am glad that we did not buy the Condo for investment, one less thing to worry about.
I am also very glad that things are starting to turn around in New Orleans, and that people are starting to realized that the first responders were pretty much locked down from coming into the area.  The major and the Governor of Louisiana will have to answer many questions and the laws better start getting change very soon.  All of the Supreme Court decisions for the State will have to be revisited in case of disasters like Katrina, let’s hope that Katrina is the worst we get, I am so worry about WMD’s in our big cities.  

Ocean Grove Beach at early evening! 

Catherine and Bill blowing their candles.

Catherine gets a star named after her.