My sweet grandson.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
The Bookworm Blog
Well, it only took me eleven months, but I've finally updated my Shore Bookworm blog.
I said I would be back 'soon', but soon is a relative term. This is soon for someone like, say, Rip Van Winkle. He was gone for twenty years, so eleven months is nothing.
I have put up a riveting post about how I love books. And I will definitely be more on top of things moving forward. Honest.
So stop by, leave comments, and think about books you love and what you have to say about them, because I would really like to have some guest posters.
The Shore Bookworm
Friday, April 23, 2010
Photo Friday: Happy Birthday Dad
In honor of my father's birthday, I pulled out some childhood pictures of him. In the first two I believe he is in Inwood Park in upper Manhattan. In the third one, he is posing with his cousins Connie and Marie at the 1939 World's Fair.
He was such a cute little boy. I love that grin with the six shooter.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
A Public Service Announcement
This is to warn you against a terrible evil – sleeping and knitting.
If you go into New York to see a super-special-specialist (long boring story, not even worth a post) and then doze off on the train home but continue to knit, the results can be tragic.
You can go from a cute little hat, made of super soft cotton, like this for a friend’s baby:
To a hole big enough to drive a bus through:
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!! Stay awake and alert while knitting.
Then you will end up with something that goes from this:
To this:
And I made a little ribbon rose for it to make it even girlier. I like this one better anyway.
Happy Birthdays
Today is my Dad’s 78th birthday. He is a sweet man and misses my mother, who is in long term care, very much. They have been married for 56 years, so living alone for him is an unwelcome novelty.
My father is an Air Force veteran of the Korean War and a native New Yorker. He and my mother grew up across the street from each other in Manhattan, but he was an only child and she was one of five. He was, and is, super smart. He went to Regis High School, which is a Jesuit high school in New York where admission is based on scholarship.
My parents were young when I was born, 20 and 21, so I remember them in their 20’s and 30’s. It’s hard for even me to appreciate the fact that my father is 78. He says he feels as though he is still 18 inside. I hope he has many more birthdays to come.
Today is also the anniversary of my dearly loved Grandmother’s birth. She was born Katie Daly on April 22, 1905 in Arigna Valley, County Roscommon, Ireland. She came to the United States after the Irish Civil War, in 1923.
She was smart and witty and tough as nails, although she was small in stature. She was devout and dedicated to her family and an inspirational role model who revered education. We had her for 95 years, but that wasn’t nearly long enough.
I read from Proverbs at her funeral:
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
I will miss you, Grandma, until we meet again.
This is to warn you against a terrible evil – sleeping and knitting.
If you go into New York to see a super-special-specialist (long boring story, not even worth a post) and then doze off on the train home but continue to knit, the results can be tragic.
You can go from a cute little hat, made of super soft cotton, like this for a friend’s baby:
To a hole big enough to drive a bus through:
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!! Stay awake and alert while knitting.
Then you will end up with something that goes from this:
To this:
And I made a little ribbon rose for it to make it even girlier. I like this one better anyway.
Happy Birthdays
Today is my Dad’s 78th birthday. He is a sweet man and misses my mother, who is in long term care, very much. They have been married for 56 years, so living alone for him is an unwelcome novelty.
My father is an Air Force veteran of the Korean War and a native New Yorker. He and my mother grew up across the street from each other in Manhattan, but he was an only child and she was one of five. He was, and is, super smart. He went to Regis High School, which is a Jesuit high school in New York where admission is based on scholarship.
My parents were young when I was born, 20 and 21, so I remember them in their 20’s and 30’s. It’s hard for even me to appreciate the fact that my father is 78. He says he feels as though he is still 18 inside. I hope he has many more birthdays to come.
Today is also the anniversary of my dearly loved Grandmother’s birth. She was born Katie Daly on April 22, 1905 in Arigna Valley, County Roscommon, Ireland. She came to the United States after the Irish Civil War, in 1923.
She was smart and witty and tough as nails, although she was small in stature. She was devout and dedicated to her family and an inspirational role model who revered education. We had her for 95 years, but that wasn’t nearly long enough.
I read from Proverbs at her funeral:
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
"Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
I will miss you, Grandma, until we meet again.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Photo Friday: My Cousin Steve
I have been so engrossed in beating my high score in Mahjongg Dimensions that I have completely forgotten Photo Friday TWO WEEKS in a row!!!
Oh my God, did I say Mahjongg Dimensions?!?! hahahahaha That is so silly! Everyone knows a total intellectual snob like me
In reality, I have been reading The Odyssey in the original Greek.
heh heh
At any rate, today’s photo is of my dear cousin Steve. I almost said my beloved cousin Steve, but that makes him sound as though he were deceased whereas he is very much alive. Although he is beloved.
Steve does not look like this anymore, except in my mind. It never fails to astonish me that we are grown-ups now. This picture is from approximately 1958 or 1959. My family lived in New York City and my cousins lived in Yonkers. Because their house was on a beautiful terraced piece of property, where lilacs and lily of the valley stretched in layer after layer every spring, I thought they lived in the country. Going there was always a thrill for me as their home was a welcoming haven of warmth and love. The scents of those flowers still represent love and happiness and solace to me to this day.
Every Saturday I would clamber into our big green Chevy and my father would drive me up there so I could go to ballet lessons with Steve’s sisters, Nancy and Dorothy. I loved the girls, who were older than me, and elegant, accomplished dancers. But I hated the lessons, as I was short and graceless and quite possibly the world’s worst little ballerina.
It was when we got back to the house that I was happiest. As my father visited with my aunt and uncle, I got to spend time with Steve. My clearest memories are of watching Howdy Doody Time together. What is so special about those memories, however, is simply being aware of Steve’s sweetness and affection and knowing I was lucky to have him in my life.
And I am still lucky to have him in my life, although we live much farther apart now and don’t see each other very often. He grew from a sweet boy to a wonderful man, a husband and a father to a lovely wife and terrific son. He is a brilliant photographer, and one thing he specializes in is car racing.
Every year he takes part in One Lap of America, something I completely do not understand but is very exciting to race car enthusiasts. This year, to my surprise and gratitude, he is driving with a bumper sticker to bring attention to Multiple Sclerosis, but especially to my team, cleverly named Team Cooper!!!
He is so great.
The event starts April 30 and here is the link: http://www.onelapofamerica.com/home.shtml. I will post updates as he follows the cars around the country. They drive all over from state to state, sometimes getting as little as two hours sleep before getting up and driving again. And they do this for days and days and days and days and…
I know, it sounds like fun doesn’t it?
Part of the trip goes through New Jersey this year, so I will actually get to see him in race car photography action!
Steve is giving great exposure to the cause of MS awareness and I am so humbled by his thoughtfulness.
Thank you, my dear cousin. As you've said before, where did the Howdy Doody time go?
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