Milestones

Today was a big day....Megan found out what George Mason University was offering her...and it looks like she will be a student. They are giving tuition assistance and she will work 10 hrs a week as a research assistant. So...now she can breathe a little easier...so can we! Now I just need to get her to go buy some warm clothes.....Pensacola was colder than Indialantic...but she will actually experience fall and winter in DC. She got a coat a couple of weeks ago...that's a start! haha


My Dad was born on August 31st...in 1918. he's no longer here to celebrate with us...but I thought of him often today. Happy Birthday Dad!


Speaking of birthdays ....a good family friend....Mr. Spino will be celebrating his 90th birthday this Saturday. (This is a photo of him with his son Mark)We saw him and the family at mass on Saturday when we went to celebrate Brian and Maureen Hogg's 50th Anniversary. They renewed their vows....and it was nice. I love the small chapel at Holy Name Of Jesus Church. Actually like it better going to mass there...rather than in the big church with 999 or so other people.I love the window behind the altar.....I need John to figure out how to make me a small stained glass window......much smaller...than this obviously...haha

David got a nice photo of the whole family... Brian, Maureen and Elaine, Stephanie and Kevin and families....as soon as I can wrangle a copy from him...I'll post it here. Mr. and Mrs. Hogg both looked great! The best part of the renewing of the vows...was an older gentleman sitting in the front row...he had the biggest smile on his face...it was just priceless...if I could have somehow gotten his picture I would have...he was so cute! That grin...was the best!

And last but not least...my niece Anna B. started college today! She is at SUNY Binghamton. My sister and her husband (pres at SUNY Cortland) dropped her off on Wednesday...and today was her first day of classes. I remember how nervous/excited a little overwhelmed & homesick I felt when I went off to college at UF (back before Internet and cell phones...and in my family you did not make a long distance call unless it was an emergency!) It was the first time I had ever been away from home for any length of time...So I hope all goes well for Anna and Megan on their first days in new places! I'm sure they will do just fine...just like Brenna, Ian and David have done. (and Megan she's been through this before...just not as far away! Makes me nervous...not her...hahha)

Onto September!

"Crabgrass Shoulder"

You've heard of Tennis elbow, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...well I believe I have "Crabgrass Shoulder" hahahha...and it would be funnier if my shoulder didn't hurt! Lately the crabgrass is growing like crazy...and I just CAN"T seem to ignore it....I'll be out tossing the "bone" to Haze and spot a patch and I am compelled to remove it! (If I wait...I might forget where it's located).

Haze doesn't like this too much...since I am supposed to be playing with him...not pulling weeds!

Or...I'll be mowing the lawn and spot some.....I wish I could just pretend that I didn't see it...but I just can't d#%$ it! So...forget about any kind of manicure for these nails...I'd be getting out of the car from the salon...spot a patch of crabgrass...and it would be all over. hahaha Round-up helps for the really stubborn areas...but it's usually not too hard to get out.....so I guess I'll have to continue. It's just I woke up last night wondering why my neck and shoulder were STILL sore...even though I just had a massage on Friday...and then I remembered...it was that D#@& crabgrass...it gets me every time!

3,2,1 Blast Off!

Into space....we really saw it much clearer than this.......but click on for better view

heading up..................

Last night at 11:59 pm the Shuttle went up again. About10 minutes before launch time we hopped in the car and went down to the beach.(too dark to ride the bike across A1A)

We were not disappointed....right on schedule the whole sky lit up over Cape Canaveral and the rocket went into space! My little camera really didn't capture it very well.....but it was cool to watch. Since we were down on the beach behind the Quality Suites Hotel it's not QS anymore...but I can never remember what it is...so as far as I'm concerned...it's Quality Suites,,hahawith a small crowd of people of all ages, from all over the United States ,many of whom had never seen a launch live, let alone a NIGHT launch live,... there was plenty of excitement.(I know that was a terrible sentence grammatically speaking...but.....)

These photos are of the rocket and if you can see it...some of the people on the beach. It was pretty funny to walk down to the beach at 11:55pm and see a small gathering of people , many of them holding up cameras and cell phones (glowing in the dark) waiting for the lift-off. As I said, my pictures really didn't capture the sight...but they're all I've got...so you'll have to use your imagination! :)

I'm Melting!

I'm Melting! At least that's how I feel right at the moment. Of course it's my own fault for taking a walk at 10:00 am....as the day continues to heat up! Oh well.....I didn't want to wait until this evening when showers and thunderstorms are always a possibility and sleeping in felt awfully nice...so I guess it was worth it.

Besides... when it comes down to it.....how can you complain when you have the day off, blue skies and sunshine, music playing in one ear and the sound of all the crickets chirping in the other with the smell of freshly mown grass along the way on a late summer morning! I'll melt anytime!

Which one is You? This was our craft for the day. Personally I like the dog...but my boss preferred the cat. she didn't come out and say it...but I know she didn't like my little dog I am happy to report that I had 12 kids today...6 chose the dog, 6 chose the cat...so I know I wasn't totally off base. haha The tails sticking up on the back of the "hats" were the best. We read "Cats Sleep Anywhere: a Poem" by Eleanor Farjeon, "Five Little Kittens" by Nancy Jewell, "10 Dogs in the Window" by Claire Masurel, and "The Great Dog Wash" by Shelie Braeuner...equal time for both...hahaha, then we did a cute song by Hap Palmer "Birds in the Circle" before we made our hats. It was fun!

Sad day

Maybe this sounds corny...but I was really sad to hear the news that Ted Kennedy had died. I have pretty much quit watching the news on TV....because with the new 24/7 coverage I find it hard to listen to any of them any more! Everything is so sensationalized and each network is determined to be the "First on the scene" with "Breaking News"....half the time they aren't even Sure if they have the facts straight...but God forbid they don't get on the air!....but today I was glued to the TV..I know people think I'm a die hard liberal.... and I am! But no one can deny the legacy Kennedy left behind...with his work on issues that affected women, children, the disabled, the elderly, students, civil rights, Aids victims....and the list goes on and on. He truly devoted his life to public service. Of course he was no saint...he had some major screw ups...but he still persevered. He lost a brother in World War II, Jack and Bobby to assassins, one sister in a plane crash, another sister was the victim of a failed lobotomy....and then his own three children all had some form of cancer...(two of them serious) and his former wife battled breast cancer. I don't know about you...but I'm not sure how I would survive all that and still have the faith he had and the strength, courage and determination to speak out for change and to work for the good of the country, especially for those whose voices aren't always heard. Either my Mom used to say this...or I heard someone use this expression...but all I could think was "He was one of the good guys." Listening to the news reports and comments from people he worked with over the years I am convinced that he was a great statesman . Flawed yes, but he overcame his mistakes and made a difference in the lives of millions of people. Now that he's gone........It's a sad day.

Sparks were Flying

We were noticing our lights flickering ....(even the nightlights) and wondered what was going on.

It was unlike any power surge we've ever had....knew something was up.but out of my control Well....we were getting ready to leave and saw Ra and Pilar in the driveway looking up. Okay....we looked up and saw what they were looking at...a flame(?) coming out of the transformer that is in the back corner of out yard. Looked a little dangerous....Ra was calling the Fire Dept. and they arrived shortly thereafter. Meanwhile the neighbors were all gathering in the street trying to figure out where the FPL guys were....and wondering what to turn off/disconnect in case the whole thing blew up. One guy from around the corner came by with his baby son...told us he had just installed a light fixture when the lights started flickering and his wife was convinced it was all his fault. He was just glad to know he wasn't to blame! hahhaha

I was watching the occasional sparks falling..wondering about the thick palm fronds below...in MY backyard

The flame would go down and then shoot out 2 feet! or so...it looked dangerous. FPL (Florida Power & Light) arrived and cut the power. John was over where the FPL truck was (around the corner) and asked the guy if we should go out like we had originally planned to do...or wait...he said "Go". Good idea.....we left, made a stop at some friends and then got something to eat...pulled into the driveway and the power came on 5 minutes later. That's what I call good timing! It's been working fine ever since...until 2 minutes ago when we had a power surge...that caused this computer to stop and restart. I checked the back yard...no sign of flames!

Hurricane Surf

Friday evening and Saturday Hurricane Bill was moving north and passing by our coastline. Even though it was 100's of miles offshore...it brought waves 6-8 ft!

some had 10-12 ft faces. It was pretty amazing to watch the sets coming in....because this time of year our waves are usually flat! There was a lot of water moving around. Surfers were everywhere.

I went down to the beach to watch in the morning.......

if you click on some of these you can see (maybe) the surfers)

then again in the afternoon. It's hard to see the SIZE of the surf in these pictures...trust me...they were pretty big.

It certainly caused some excitement around here...everywhere you looked there were cars with surfboards on/ or in them. People running across A1A to go watch the surfers or with surfboards

ready to hit the waves. Luckily there was not too much erosion...and it was mostly good times for all.

Random thoughts

Went to the movies yesterday afternoon....I figured I figured wrong! that there wouldn't be many people there on a Friday afternoon at 1:00pm. Anyway...decided to go see Julie & Julia. It was fun! A good story with great acting...and just very enjoyable. I recently finished a couple of well-written, but kind of depressing books..."Flying Carpet of Small Miracles "by Hala Jaber...by an Arab-American Journalist. It was good...about her experiences in Iraq prior to and during the war in Iraq. One of the most haunting things for me personally was her description of the pregnant women who were going to the hospitals to have the doctors induce labor, (some 3 months early!) because they were afraid of not being able to get there one the "liberation" started. I can't imagine. There was much more to the story...but a lot about civilians caught in the middle of the war. The other book , by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi called "A Girl Made of Dust"was about a family in Beirut Lebanon during the war in 1982..(.which coincidentally my brother Mark was involved in during his time in the Navy). The first was nonfiction, the second fiction...but both were sad reminders of how wars take their toll on people. Anyway...after reading those two books I needed some pure entertainment and Julie & Julia fit the bill perfectly! even if I did have to share a row with a few other people.haha Like I said ...I thought it would be empty...movie's been out a few weeks, mid-afternoon on a weekday.....but I was wrong. I like going to the movies when I sit all by myself...with no chance of popcorn or ice crunchers sitting next to me. hahha I'm laughing...but I am serious...I am peculiar that way!
anyway...if you want some fun entertainment...it's worth a trip to the movies...or at least a trip to Blockbuster or Netflix later on! everyone in the theater ...men & women alike,,,,seemed to enjoy it.
John got a plaque in the mail yesterday...commemorating his Hole-in-one. Very nice. I got a plaque from the county commissioners last week for 10 years of service to the county...too bad it took me 30 years to get a 10 year plaque! haha
And last but not least....I need a vacation I think! I just want to go somewhere for a few days...and sip tea, drink coffee, whatever. As soon as I figure out where I want to go...I'll book it
Any suggestions?!

Big wahoo - small boat

Imagine this little boat,,,(well, it is 17 ft long...but compared to the other boat John's been fishing in it's pretty small. 12 ft smaller). anyway...back to the point...imagine this boat 32 miles offshore in a 4-6 ft swell! Waves breaking over the bow.... No Thanks!

But that's exactly where John and Ron were on Saturday morning. It wasn't supposed to be that rough...but you never really know until you get out there...which is part of the reason I usually don't want to go out!When they caught this 48 or so Wahoo...they decided they were happy to leave it at that and head in. The trip in was not as bad...since they were with the swell.

It was great to have fresh fish again...seared Wahoo with soy/wasabi sauce. Delicious. Last night we brought some to the Roy's house. We had the wahoo and Mike's Lobster Casserole....made with lobster caught last week. (6 lobsters totaled over 46 lbs!)

Yum yum.

*On a totally unrelated note...some lame lyrics I heard today and had to share.........

"Turn off the lights. light the candles

Put your arms around my love handles" I turned it off...so I don't know if it got better or even worse after that! haha

You CAN go home again....

A favorite old photo from Martha's First Communion Day. We were on the porch in the front of the house/off the kitchen . David has this photo blown up...it's a classic...my mom's hat, my brothers pose...my big grin(I knew there was cake !), Martha's expression......

the same porch...now enclosed'
Path from side porch to back yard

View from the street

Bedrooms upstairs / Garage and basement downstairs








Back view. Porch, Living Room with Picture window. Big maple we used to climb to left in pictureThe best sled riding hill in the neighborhood!
Looking out the Living Room Window

My friend Ruth's house down the hill...when the snow was really good...you could go from our yard right through Ruth's...and on really good days.....right through her side yard...across Kennebec Road and into the Fiorelli's yard!

House next door....The Hickman's...nice older couple with the fattest, meanest chihuahua around...the infamous"PENNY". I was scared to death of that little dog!


*Looking down the street to the bottom of the hill


At the end of Arapahoe Road was a steep hill. When we lived there...there was a staircase that you could walk down to get to the Trolley station.(you can see the tracks) Trolley would take you all the way to Downtown.

Basement cabinets that my Dad built. When we lived there they were painted Red/Green?,Yellow,Blue? or something like that....three sections for Martha, Ellen and I.

The names on the work area...click on for close up!

I just recently managed to get some pictures from my brother David.....from a trip we took 3 years ago. John, Bridget, David and I made a trip up to Pittsburgh Pa to take in a Steelers game and visit our old hometown of Bethel Park. John and I had been there the year before and I knew David would enjoy going back. It's kind of a long, round about story...but I'll try and sum it up for you. Several years ago our sister Elizabeth went to Pittsburgh with her family to visit some friends. They decided to make a trip to Bethel Park to check out our old neighborhood/house. Now....Elizabeth was only 6 I think? when we moved to Florida...so she didn't have as many fond memories of the place as we older kids did...but home is home. The day she and Jack and the kids made the trip...they decided to knock on the door of our old house at 3211 Arapahoe Road. The owners were not only there...they were excited that one of the kids had come back! The woman Mrs. P. Brackett invited them to come in and see the house. She said she had been waiting for years, hoping that one day one or more of us would come back. She showed them around the house and then took them down to the basement. My dad had done a lot of the work himself...he built a system of cabinets and drawers that Ellen, Martha and I used on one side of the basement which served as our bedroom. (trundle beds...folded away by day to make "couches"). The other half of the basement had a small bathroom and laundry area. Out in the garage, my dad had built himself a work table/area with plenty of spaces to hang things and store things. While my dad was in the process of building the table...he let us all climb on it and

sign our names on the 2x4 s. He never did paint over them. We moved to Florida in December 1967 ( on the day after Christmas). Flash forward to 1993(?) (Elizabeth knows) when Liz and Jack went to visit. Mrs. Brackett showed them around the house and took them down to the basement where all of our names were still on that work station....she never let her husband paint over them because she told him that some day one of the kids might come back to visit and they would want to see their names still there. Elizabeth couldn't believe it...she took some pictures (pre-digital age) and sent them to all of us. Of course I immediately wanted to make a trip myself! We did go the following summer...but the Bracketts were out of town...so while we got to walk around the house and yard (which was wonderful...I still get goosebumps thinking about it now) we didn't get to go in. I loved being back there and just for a few moments feeling like I was transported back in time to when I was a little girl .I had loved that house, our back yard that was great for sled riding, the hills we rode our bikes up and down. Looking out the picture window and down the hill at my friend Ruth's house. Remembering when I learned to ride a two wheel bike down at the bottom part of our driveway. The ivy that grew along one side of the brick wall, the maple trees (my favorite) in the yard that we used to climb...it was wonderful.

We didn't go back again until 2005.....(John and I) and we visited the house and Mrs. Brackett , who was home that time,let us in. I have to appreciate the fact that this woman who had NO idea who we were when we showed up at her door....let us in and was happy to see us! After our visit I knew David would need to make the visit too.(because we had talked many times about going back to Pittsburgh)...so the following year we got him to go. Again Mrs. Brackett (now in her late 70's/80's let us all in and showed us around...and was especially happy to show us the work area with all of our names still there after 40 years! David took these great photos.....and now here it is 3 years later and I finally got them from him...so I am going to share them with whoever is reading this! Which goes to show you...like the title of this post...sometimes you CAN go home again!

Marc Antoine

We just got home from the Wednesday night jazz program at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. It was a very HOT day...but there was a breeze...so that helped. The show doesn't start until 6:00...so the sun was starting to set...and it wasn't long before it was out of sight...so things cooled off relatively quickly. They estimate there were 1000 people tonight...because the featured artists were Marc Antoinehttp://http//www.marcantoine.com/marc.html(in the red shirt) a nationally known recording artist and Brian Simpson. It was great. We started out way in the back of the crowd....then worked our way up closer to the front. Eventually we decided to wind our way around to the area behind the "stage"....where we managed to locate two chairs and and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening of great music overlooking the beachaway from the crowdI even found a little tube of bubbles in the grass....which I happen to know were some how overlooked when they cleaned up after the wedding we attended there on Saturday afternoon. It was great. Now I need to try to get to sleep early....so I can wake up and see some meteors tonight! There is nothing I enjoy more well not much anyway than seeing a shooting star! John saw one early this morning......the kind with a big long tail. I need to see one of those tonight!