Beautiful Fall Day

It was a beautiful fall day today - slight chill in the air and a nice breeze to rustle the leaves. Lucky has been driving us crazy with his desire to go outside so today I took him out on the leash. He was very good while outside but not happy to come inside. Hopefully that will keep him happy for a few days!
I got most of my chores done today so tomorrow is playday for me. Maybe a trip to memory lane and Michaels for some not needed scrapbooking supplies. I have been scrapping quite a bit lately and have some creative ideas for Christmas cards. With the cooler weather and the boys watching baseball all the time, I spend evenings in my scrapbook room.

The front of the house looks nice with the pumpkin and mums. We need more pumpkins to complete the look. There is a big streak of bird poop on the door, but I creatively took the picture so that the post blocked it out. Have to get out there and clean it off.

I love this time of year - can you tell? Even though the days are getting shorter and it's dark so early I don't mind too much. Tonight when I was walking Kitty I could smell the woodsmoke coming from our chimney. I love that smell. It is definitely a fall smell.This last picture is of the hot air balloon that flew right over our roof top this morning. You have to look very closely between the trees to see it. I was outside with Kitty when it came over top of the house and Kitty freaked out. I was able to talk to the people who were laughing at how Kitty was running in circles and basically a basket case. I could see what the people were wearing - that's how close they were. I took Kitty in and brought Greg out to see it. By the time I got my camera and camera card it was not as visible.

Foray into YouTube

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)

So cool - love this music. A very powerful message that made me really think "would I go up and hug somebody holding a free hugs sign?". When the video started, I thought probably not, but by the end I was thinking why not.

Sunny Tuesday

Not a whole lot going on in my life lately. It seems that all I do is get up, walk the dog, feed the animals, go to work, come home, walk the dog, feed the family, feed the animals, few chores, check email and then go to bed. Not too much excitement. I need a shakeup -- something out of the ordinary. Maybe I need a weekend all to myself to just window shop or read a book or I don't know what. Even when I tell myself that I am going to have "me" time, I'm always thinking about something that I need to do. Sometimes you just have to stop thinking about what has to be done and just "CHILL".

Fall is here and the leaves are putting on their annual show. I love this time of year. The air smells of woodsmoke, the sunrises over the mist-covered yard, and the crunch of leaves are underfoot. It's been Indian summer around here, but that is supposed to change sometime this week and the temperature will drop. That's okay, the nesting instinct will take over and hopefully some major home renovations will begin to take shape. Keep posted.


Thought I would include a picture of Greg's cast as it might be going away this week. His appointment is Friday and he's hoping that it comes off then. There is no guarantee and I keep telling him that it might not happen (it's only been on 4 weeks). Anyways, here it is minus the boot which is slowly falling apart. They were enjoying a round of paintball shooting at the targets.

It's been 3 years...

since my Dad passed away. It's been 3 years and 1 month since my Mom passed away. I still miss them everyday and wish I could have one more conversation with them. I always regret that I couldn't have done more for them. I always regret that I didn't get to say goodbye to Dad. I said goodbye to Mom when I left Columbus that August - I told her that I was really going to miss her. I didn't get to say that to Dad and it still hurts.

Living My Dash

Here's hoping that I post more often in October. I don't think much excitement is going on in my life lately so I feel that I would just bore everyone (not that many people read this blog).

Today is Casey's 18th birthday. I am still surprised at how quickly the time passed. I can still remember her as a little curly top girl who was curious about everything. She still has the curls and the curiousity, but she seeks her own answers and doesn't consult me too much anymore. That's okay because I know that it means that we did our job in raising her to desire to learn and be independent.

We had a really nice visit with her last weekend. She is doing very well and enjoying college life with all of its opportunities. Oh to be young again and have those opportunities. Maybe it's all in my head, but it seems that the older you get, the less time you have for creating new experiences. I sometimes feel weighed down with the pressures of work, cleaning, laundry and all the other stuff. Maybe I need to put some of that aside and make time for real fun again. I'm rambling, but I am trying to get more joy out of each and every day. I read something lately that said when you turn the page in your daily calendar, you have lost that day and won't have the day to live over again so make it count for something. I also read the following:


I read of a reverend who stood to speak
at the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth,
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard,
are there things you'd like to change?|
For you never know how much time is left.
(You could be at dash mid-range.)

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile,
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be pleased with the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

Love the message in this. I think I will do a better job of living "my dash".

Broken Monday

Saturday they went to play basketball at Del Val. Greg was just shooting layups and came down wrong on his foot. We thought it was only sprained and he would be walking with a limp for a few days. Ha! Boy were we wrong. Actually the nurse assistant at the pediatrician said it was probably only a sprain but sent him to the hospital for an xray anyways. Turns out he fractured his growth plate in his ankle and will be in a cast for at least 4 weeks.

He got a pretty cool looking black cast and has a silver sharpie for everyone to sign it. He is handling it pretty well even though I know he is bummed about missing fall ball this year. He got a walking boot so that after about a week he can ditch the crutches. I am going to guess he is ready to ditch them by Friday. He is going to get car service to and from school this week while he still has crutches so he gets a little extra sack time in the morning.

A Return to Ireland

Day 4 in Ireland and we were up quite early as the sun woke us up at the farmhouse at 5:30 am. It drives me batty how it is daylight until 11 pm at night and then the sun is up so early. Kathleen, our host, had a nice breakfast laid out for us and we packed up our stuff for the day out sightseeing. We were the last people to be picked up from the farmhouses, so we didn't see the bus until 9:45 am. Off we went to Waterford.

Greg took a picture of the old boats in the harbor at Waterford as we came into town. It was another beautiful day weatherwise and the scenery was quite beautiful. As we were driving around the town, Jim was giving us a history lesson. The old stone walls that I took a picture of were some of the remaining wall fragments of the walls built by the Vikings in 1000 A.D. The Vikings were in Ireland for 100 years.


We arrived at the Waterford Factory and our first stop was the shop where you could buy all kinds of stuff. They also had displays on the various Waterford trophys that had been given out at famous golf tournaments. This was only a short stop before our tour of the factory.

We broke up into small groups for the tour. It was a terrific tour as we were very up close and personal with the workers. We got to see the entire process from the glass being blown to the finishing work and cutting done on the crystal. We learned that for every crystal trophy made for tournaments (tennis, golf, racing, etc.), they make 3 of them. One is the winner's trophy, one is a replacement in case something happens, and one is to keep at the factory for their showroom/museum.


From start to finish, Waterford does a good job of explaining the entire process. Even at the very end of the tour as we were headed out the door, there was one last demonstration by master cutters as to the cutting process. The apprenticeship to be at this level is very long.


As you can see, the kids liked getting to touch the trophys that were made at Waterford. Once our tour was complete, we walked over to the store for a quick run through again, but I didn't buy anything. I couldn't be bothered with shipping something back or carrying crystal throughout the rest of the trip. We did learn all about the logo for Waterford crystal - the seahorse.

Our next stop was the town of Waterford where we would have lunch and a short amount of time for shopping. Because we wanted to spend time walking around the town, we had a quick lunch at McDonalds. We visited a bookstore and a music store (where I bought my brother an Irish whistle in the key of C). Larry and Greg were still looking for a hurling jersey. Time went by pretty quickly and soon we were off to New Ross to visit the Dunbrody. More on that later.

Content Kitties and a Trip

Last weekend, after a relatively sleepless week, we got to see Casey and find out how she fared on her trip. We arrived on campus around 2 pm and found out from the crew in front of Robinson hall that there was a bus arriving within 30 minutes. As the bus pulled around the green, we hoped that Casey was on it. Not having talked to her since Tuesday, we were anxious to see her. The bus was met by quite the unique group of people but it was fun to watch. They enjoyed dancing and music before grabbing their packs and heading to the dorms.
It was fun watching these young adults have fun. Casey soon joined us and we were quite happy to see her. The house seems emptier without her jumping down the stairs, but I'm happy to see her with these new experiences.

The weekend was busy with getting her settled into her dorm room and making sure she had everything she needed for awhile. We went out to dinner on Saturday (Applebees) and lunch on Sunday (Liu Liu). I only teared up a little when we left on Sunday because she seemed pretty happy there and I was happy for her. Doesn't mean that I don't miss her, but I am excited to hear of all of her adventures. Notice the quilt on the bed - I made that. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to take a picture of it to add to my book of quilts. Guess I have to wait until it comes home next summer. If I remember, I will take a picture when we see her in 3 weeks for her birthday.

Finally, this morning I took these kitty pictures for Casey. I know she misses her Lucky and I want to assure her that he is doing well. He is getting lots of hugs and kisses which he hates, but also lots of petting.


I didn't take a picture of Kitty this morning because she was already back in bed when I had my camera out. I promise to add more Ireland pictures and continue my travelogue soon.

Goodbyes and New Beginnings

I was awake long before the alarm was supposed to go off. I have been dreading this day since Casey started kindergarten. Don't get me wrong - she is so ready for this new phase of her life. She has so much ahead of her and I know that she is anxious to continue learning all that she can. I just can't help but miss her because I could always count on her to give me a hug or a hand or an ear to listen to. I am excited and scared for her as she goes out into the big world. But I know that she has a good heart and a good head and is mature and able to handle what is put in front of her. I hope she knows how proud we are of her and what she has accomplished and what is yet still to be accomplished. If you are reading this Casey, I want you to know that the house seems a little less full tonight and a lot quieter. Oh, and I have given Lucky quite a few hugs already. We won't tell you who has been sleeping in your bed though!!!!

Greg started high school today! Wow, how did that happen so fast? He willingly posed for the obligatory picture in front of the fireplace and I even took a picture of him with Kitty. He had a good day even though he found out that he did indeed have summer writing assignments for Honors English. Guess what he spent hours doing tonight? He just finished and I promised him a game of cribbage before bed. By the way, he loves Mrs. Pittner and when I asked if he thought he might get involved with theatre, he said "maybe". Dr. Young came up and shook his hand today and Greg loved where his locker is - very convenient to all of his classes. He is such a great young man and I look forward to his own set of outstanding achievements. He is going to grow up so fast now.

I will continue the Irish journal next time. Until then, off to play cribbage.

An Irish Travelogue

Day 3 in Ireland found us in Kilkenney. The town of Kilkenney is a touristy area and there were many people walking about town. The town is full of narrow stone streets and beautiful architecture. We arrived at 11:30 am and had plenty of time to walk around the town and have lunch before our tour of Kilkenney Castle at 2 pm.
Our first stop was at the pharmacists to get contact solution for Casey. I had a blister so I got some bandaids as well. The bandaids are called elastoblasts and are so different from what we consider bandaids. Once our purchases were made we climbed a hill to a church at the top. This was St. Canice's cathedral and it was beautiful. It sat on the edge of town and even had a watch tower. That is my family looking down from the tower. My knee and my fear of heights prevented me from doing this. I sat in the church yard and looked at very old graves and Celtic crosses.
After this we walked back towards town stopping at the most beautiful church along the way. The stained glass windows were beautiful and we were able to go in and observe Mass there. Lunch was at Subway (don't laugh - it was quick and easy) and we were quickly on our way for more time around the town. There were street performers and a beautiful walkway along the canal. Around 2 we headed to the Kilkenney castle for our tour.
The Castle was over 800 years old and had been in one family for many years. The tour lasted about an hour and was pretty nice - couldn't take pictures though. Afterwards, we were all back on the tour bus and headed to our Irish farms for the evening. Before getting on the bus, we stopped and got ice cream from an ice cream truck outside the castle. The main type they sell is a vanilla soft serve ice cream cone with a "flake" in it. The "flake" is a rolled Cadbury chocolate bar that consists of flakes of chocolate. The "flake is about 2 inches long and stuck into the side of the ice cream. It was fantastic. Of course, we love Cadbury chocolate and that is the only chocolate sold in Ireland so we had it often.

Our drive through the countryside to our farm - Moate Farm - was beautiful. I have to say this over and over, I can't believe how our bus driver, Jim Lynch, made it through some of the narrowest roads I have ever seen. We were constantly amazed at his driving. Of course, he has been doing this for 31 years, so it was no big deal to him. His skill at backing up the tour bus was even more amazing! More to come later!!!

In other news, I am enjoying my job tremendously. I am still working out the kinks with combining home life and working. I am pretty tired at night and don't feel like cooking or doing much of anything. I know it will get better as things go on. I have to start doing more meal planning and home organization in order not to be stressed about things. Everyone is helping out with fixing meals, walking Kitty, and being supportive. Greg and Casey even had breakfast for me this morning after I came in from my morning walk. For them to be up at 9 am on a Saturday stunned me. It was such a nice treat and I just love these kids.

Tour of Ireland Continues

Love this picture of the doorman at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. Loved this hotel and hated that we only spent one day there. The rooms were very elegant and the service outstanding. There was even afternoon tea in the lobby area. One thing that amazed me about Ireland was the toilets. Our toilets are oval shaped and rather long. In Ireland (everywhere), the toilets are round. Completely round and not very large. You really notice it the first time you see one because all of a sudden you have all of this room in the bathroom. Usually stalls in airports are tight squeezes - not in Ireland where the toilets are round and you don't have to move around it to close the door. COOL!!!

Casey is giving a funny look because as we were walking back to the hotel from Trinity College and the Book of Kells, we saw Dartmouth Road. It took us about 5 minutes to convince her to stand in front of the street sign. I have to include this picture because she couldn't believe we made such a big deal of it.
This is a picture of Ireland President Mary Macalease's (sp?)home. It is located in Phoenix Park in Dublin. It's hard to tell from this picture, but a light is always left on in the front window to guide Irish immigrants back home. Mary is the second female president they have had in row. She is well liked. I think the prior president was a Mary as well.

This is a picture taken from our tour bus on the way to Kilkenney on our 2nd day in Ireland. Everything was so green and uninhabited. All of us kept saying throughout the trip, that if this beauty was in America it would be surrounded by condos and expensive summer homes. We like to spoil beauty so that we can look at it. Here everything was so unspoiled and beautiful.

More Irish pics

Here are more pictures from our Ireland trip. After arriving in Dublin after a night flight from Philly, we napped at our hotel briefly before a tour of Dublin. Our first stop was a castle in Dublin. Mave, our tour guide at the castle, was great. This picture is the throne that was made for Queen Victoria. The legs were cut down to be very short to accommodate her short stature.

This next picture is the Pope's cross that was erected in 1979 for Pope John Paul's visit. A mass was held at this spot (Phoenix Park) and was attended by most of Dublin. The picture is slightly blurry because this is the only time we saw rain during the 10 days in Ireland. We had the best weather.

I took many pictures of the doors of Dublin as their colors were wonderful. Our tour driver told us that the doors were painted bright colors originally in defiance of the edict that doors be painted black in mourning for the passing of an English monarch (can't remember which one). The Irish, who didn't like being under English rule at the time, decided to paint the doors bright colors. The tradition continues today and everywhere we looked we saw brightly colored doors (all over Ireland).

This next picture is of Kilkenney Castle in Kilkenney. We had a nice bus ride their and explored the town and castle. The castle was over 800 years old and incredibly beautiful. The gardens and landscaping around the castle provided lots of places to sit and view the scenery.


This last picture was taken at the Choate farm in Kilkenney. We stayed at the farm with our host family for two nights. We were paired up with a couple from Massachusetts, Kristen and Chris. We hit it off immediately, and the proprietor, Kathleen, just assumed that we were all traveling together. Greg pulled out a wiffle ball and bat from his suitcase and we all headed to the cow pasture to play. Chris loved it and Kristen and I joined in as well. Brian, Kathleen's son, joined us as well and loved having the chance to play ball with us. He is a hurler and played competitively in Kilkenney.

More to come.

The beginning of our Irish trip log

Our first day of our Ireland trip was completely devoted to flying there. We left Sunday p.m. and arrived in Dublin at 8:45 a.m. The flight was on-time which was nice, but sleep eluded me on the plane. Arriving in Dublin was great, Casey pointed out the sun rising as we came upon Ireland (it was 1 a.m. EST) and that was pretty weird. We got our suitcases and headed to customs. To me it felt like the kids going to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts express as most people had carts loaded with luggage and were being herded into a single line.

CIE met us promptly and before we knew it we were on our way to the Burlington Hotel where we would stay the first night. We got our rooms and decided that a nap would be best before our tour of Dublin at 2.

That is just what we did and it helped a little. Following a hurried lunch, we boarded the tour bus for a trip around Dublin. Our tour driver and guide, Jim Lynch, was great. An absolute riot to listen to as well. Our first stop was a tour of Dublin Castle. It was okay, but we were still pretty tired and a castle tour was not the best idea. The tour guide, Mave, was very nice and informative, which helped.
As you can see from the picture, the kids were pretty wiped and didn't seem too happy about the tour. It was interesting though and, like I said, the guide was very good. One phrase used by the guide when discussing the fact that two people were supposed to get married, but the groom left the bride at the altar, she referred to it as the groom "pulled a runner." I loved that phrase. It turned out that the groom's friend ended up marrying the bride to avoid her embarassment and they had a happy life together. Neat story.

More to come another day.

June Catchup

June marked a big month in our house as Greg graduated from middle school and Casey graduated from high school. Let me back up one day and say that I had knee surgery on Thursday, the day before graduations, to remove a cyst from my knee. Of course things did not go as smoothly as possible as I aspirated something during the surgery and they wanted to keep me overnight in the hospital to check so that I don't get pneumonia. After 2 chest xrays, they finally let me go home even though I spent the entire day in the hospital.


Greg's graduation ceremony was at 9:30 a.m. and we enjoyed the ceremony. Greg got the Honors Geometry award for excellence. Christi was able to attend his promotion ceremony and hung out with us at the house afterwards. I got a little teary-eyed at Greg's ceremony as it hit me that he would be a high school student. After the ceremony, we went home and did some preparations for the after graduation ice cream party. Christi was a big help and it was so nice to just sit there and gab with her. She is such an important part of our family. Larry and Mark had gone to the Philadlephia A's historical society and out to lunch.


Casey's ceremony started at 7:30 p.m. and Larry and I had front row seats. The ceremony was fantastic and the school did a great job honoring each student. Casey's valdictorian speech was wonderful and she got applause during and after the speech. She was so polished standing up there. One of her teachers commented that "she taught her everything she knew" which Dani Buckman overheard and laughed about. Both Dani and Christi were able to attend the ceremony, as well as Chad. We were happy to have such special people join us. We had a "dessert party" after the ceremony which was well attended.

I was pretty wiped out, but the weekend celebrations were far from over. On Saturday, Casey and I went to Christi's baby shower at Dani's house. Their mom Geri was there and it was fun to see them. After that, Casey and I went to Casey II's graduation party. The boys went to the Phillies game that day. Boy was I ever tired after a busy 3 days. On Sunday, after Mark left, I basically crashed.

Greg celebrated his 14th birthday on June 20 and we had presents and cake and dinner out the next day. Greg was attending sportsbroadcasting camp all week at Villanova and having a great time. Hard to believe Greg is 14 and a freshman in high school. He gets taller every week and is handsome as ever. He is a great guy and has handled following in Casey's footsteps just wonderfully. He is going to go far in life because of his personality.

We had company from Maine - Reed, Erica, Tommy and Gracie.

They basically just used our house as a hotel, as they had other plans, but that was fine with us as it was just nice to see them. Greg and Tommy hit it off perfectly - 2 boys, lots of baseball cards, baseball games, and baseball talk. Gracie is still as cute as ever and it was nice to really talk to Erica and Reed. We met them again in Reading after they had left our house. We had gone out there on a rainy Sunday to stock up on clothing. We actuallly ran into them twice!



Finally we took a trip to the Jersey shore. The Flowers loaned us their beach condo in Ocean City and we spent the day on the beach and boardwalk. It was fun watching the kids ride the rides again after a 5 year absence from the Jersey shore. We ate pizza on the boardwalk and bought saltwater taffy and fudge. We all agreed, though, that we prefer the South Carolina beaches and trips. Just seems to be a different class of people.

Also, in June, my brother John celebrated his 50th birthday. I hope he is taking stock of where he is and what he wants to accomplish. I wish him well. I hope to see him on his trip back East.