TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

On Christmas eve quite a few members of our family attended the Children's Mass at Epiphany Church. It was a beautiful experience. The children had an active role in the Mass and the celebrant made the Mass appropriate for all ages but with the accent on the children. The priest is very exuberant and quite a showman but very devout and sincere. I have heard him speak before and his 'sermons' are so unique and creative that he captivates the entire audience. The church was packed beyond capacity so one glass side of the building was opened up and huge tents were assembled so that they abutted the church sanctuary. Chairs were set up out there for the overflow crowd. I may have been colder at sometime in my life but I could not recall when while sitting there with the bitter cold air flowing in and the tent walls bulging and my hands turning blue, then black and finally dead white. (And we were inside the church in the front row.) Nevertheless it was still an awe inspiring experience. After we left Mass we stumbled out on frozen feet and sought the respite of the warm car. Ahhhh! We proceeded to Kristin and Tim's house for a great meal.

During dinner the people at our end of the table got into a discussion about the absurdity of some of the offensive commercials on TV. We touched on most of the more outrageous ones and even mocked the messages that bombard us at every viewing. We even sang snatches of some of the songs now quite familiar to all. We discussed the person who feels compelled to tell us that she has 'just one body' and we talked of the two bathtubs in the woods and others. We ended up laughing so hard that we became almost raucous.

Our hostess, Kristin, facetiously asked if she needed to ask us to leave! We were a little over the top. Remember, these were prime time commercials that we were discussing. Meanwhile, out of the corner of my ear, I could hear snippets of the conversation going on at another table or part of the room. They were commenting on the three point BILLION dollars that just one group of Wall Street CEO's had received in salaries or end of year bonuses. Now that is what I call obscene.

We had a great time at our gathering though and I look forward to future good times with all of them. Happy New Year to all!! Shalom!

Where's the Gas-X ?

A few years ago there was an epidemic of Mad Cow Disease in England. We eventually got a few cases of it here too. When the media got onto it they were ever so glad to tell us about each and every case and scare us into eating chicken. The media takes one news clip and shows it over and over again, sometimes two or three times during the report. They had one clip of a cow falling down! That was so depressing to me that I would close my eyes every time they started to talk about cows. Cows are not supposed to fall down! Cows are so peaceful, they don't fight with other cows or with humans, they stand around, eat grass and moo. They are outstanding in their fields!

Well now, guess what they are being accused of? While peacefully standing in their fields it seems they are burping and gaseous and this has become a concern of the government. Cows and hogs are now considered air polluting animals. There might be a "cow tax" in the future.

The Environmental Protection Agency report after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases from motor vehicles constitute air pollution, someone latched onto the fact that so also, do animals standing around eating grass emit greenhouse gases. Frankly I don't see the connection.

In Congress, today, Harry Reed got in a little trouble for pointing out that in the summer when Washington, DC is besieged with tourists standing in lines to visit the historical sites ,"You can smell them." Hark, is there a 'standing in long lines' tax coming? What about all those guys,(and I suppose some gals) guzzling beer and eating hot dogs at sporting events, are they emitting greenhouse gases?

At the end of football season at Papa John's stadium is it possible that the crowds emit more than 100 tons of carbon emissions per season? Especially a season like we just had? Ticket prices may well be on the rise. Our concern for this problem falls under the federal Clean Air Act. This stinks!

If they do begin to tax cows, the farmers say that they would go bankrupt because it would cost $175.00 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20.00 for each hog. A moderate sized cattle or hog farm could cost $30,000. to $40,00 dollars a year. Vegetarians rejoice!

John Millett, a spokesman for the EPA's air and radiation division, said that there has been an oversimplification of the EPA's document "to the point of distortion." Whew, that's a relief!

Never mind!!!

LUNCH WITH...

The Courier has a feature in the paper once a week now, that I usually like. It's called "Lunch With..." They choose individuals from the community and invite them to lunch and interview them while lunching. They have a variety of people and not people with celebrity status necessarily. As an example, one of the people they interviewed a while back was the man that turned O.J. Simpson away from his restaurant on Derby Day. Neither O.J. nor his party were allowed in.

Today they interviewed MeShorn Daniels, a name very unfamiliar to us. He, however is a crusader. He is with a company that is called GARMY. GARMY is an acronym for God Ain't Released Me Yet. MeShorn is 47 years old and says he is a baby boomer in the middle. That means, according to him, the young baby boomers who are in the middle of those who are older than them, who went through the civil rights of the 60's and lived through the 70's while still very young. They are older than Generation X, the hip-hop culture, the saggy pants and all that.
He says that the deal is they are still trying to hold onto some of the values that they had to deal with, that the older baby boomers put them through...he said they are going to try to mandate some things in this 21st Century.

He is advocating a "Pull Up Your Pants "campaign. He wants to get a dialogue going with anyone that wants to participate. He spoke to the Metro Council and ask them for a show of hands of how many of them were affected by seeing the sag pants and talked about the "Pull up your Pants" environment . Everybody raised their hands and he heard murmurs of agreement from the audience.

He was asked if he thought there should be laws against sag pants. He said he is not advocating laws but thinks it can be handled by dialogue and proposed a resolution that would encourage discussion. He made it clear that he is not just targeting African Americans (he is African American) he wants it talked about across the board.

I know that at Meredith-Dunn we had a dress code and absolutely no sag pants was in the code. Even though the uniform pants were khaki, some of the boys pulled them down as far as they could, to the point that their underwear showed, and then had to be sent to the office for dress code violation. As soon as they got out of the sight of the office, they pulled them down again. So much quality teaching time was spent trying to get them to obey the rules that I did a pants ,belt, tuck- in -shirt check as they entered class and if it had to be addressed again there was extra homework assigned to make up for the lost teaching time. I didn't see too many sag pants during my classes.

MeShorn said he wants to empower people to say, listen, I see something I don't like and I want to effect change. He wants to encourage people that they can effect change by saying something. He mentioned the Dooney "Da Priest" CD that inspired him to get involved. The rap version that explains the different talking points of saggy pants piqued his interest. The sag pants style was started in prisons by the homosexuals and it was to indicate to fellow prisoners that the prisoner wearing sag pants was already "taken" by another.

MeShorn says his intention is to bring the issue of "saggy pants" to the whole community, state or country as public indecency awareness,to encourage more responsible and accountable adults, men, women, parents, mothers, fathers, wives or girlfriends that this is unacceptable form of expression.

I applaud his idea and hope it gets results. He has an e-mail address : ) pullyourpantssup@ garmy.com

I wonder what happens when the saggy pantsers have to run out of the way of harm or danger. Do they leave a trail of pants in their wake?

Ciao

Worst Job

One of the more remarkable changes in the social and economic life of the nation over the last two centuries (1800's and 1900's) is the minimal role of child labor in the United States. Congress passed an amendment in 1924 (the year of my birth) but conservative groups feared that the Federal Gov. would have too much power in areas related to children so many states failed to ratify it.

The Great Depression changed political attitudes in the U.S. significantly , and child labor reform benefited. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act placed limitations on child labor. However, that was not soon enough!

When I was about 11 or 12 years old we were still in the throes of the Great Depression, the NRA had not yet accomplished full recovery and money was very tight or nonexistent in my realm. We had a neighbor that ran a small dairy out of their home. The dairy was in the back part of the house. The dad had a milk route and the mom ran the dairy sales there at the house.

The Valley's had six children that were all just a year or so apart. Rosalie, the mother, was about 30 pounds over weight, she had red hair and she was a jovial, happy go lucky woman who most of the time looked like a slattern. She had no concept of organization or discipline. Everyone loved her and enjoyed her company but her house keeping skills were nonexistent. She decided she needed help so she appealed to my mother. She said she wanted help with the dishes after supper. I was the sacrificial lamb. Doesn't sound too daunting does it? BUT... (note the ellipsis)

The house was actually very large, especially the kitchen. The kitchen was huge and they had remodeled it to accommodate their large family. A door opened out of the back wall of the room into the dairy. The stove and counter space was on one side of the door and the sink and more counter space was on the other side of the door. The counter extended around the corner of the side wall for about six or eight feet. The cupboards above the counters contained the dishes etc.

Rosalie, good mother that she was, cooked oat meal for breakfast each morning, the pan that she cooked it in stayed on the stove for the rest of the day, the dishes that she served it in were placed on the counters along with the milk glasses and any thing else that was used. Lunch could be soup, sandwiches etc. and same deal, leave all the implements and serving dishes on the stove or counter, dinner... you get the point. By day's end dirty dishes, cutlery, pots and pans and garbage filled all of the 10 or 12 feet of counter space plus the stove surface and the sink.

My job, first ever job for money, was to wash all of the dishes, pots and pans, mop the floor, (had to be done on hands and knees) scour the sink, clean the stove, dry the dishes and put away in the cupboards, which I could not reach other than by chair or stool and if any dairy customers came I had to alert Rosalie, and some nights I had to babysit the kids while I was there. I was a scullery maid, at the age of 12. Sounds Dickensian, doesn't it? I started the job about 5:30 or 6:00 and finished around 8:00 or 8:30. My pay? One quarter a night! .25 measly cents!

One time the two older children, maybe eight or nine years old, went out into the dairy and got pounds of butter, butter came in one pound chunks, and had a competition to see which one of them could throw it up to the ceiling and make it stick! I must admit it was on my watch but I was busy scraping dried food off of pots and pans and doing my other odious tasks. When the parents came home they were a little mystified at the grease marks on the living room ceiling. Oh well.

One of the six children was named Gregg and he was my absolute favorite! Incidentally,he was not one of the butter throwers. I vowed at that time that I would name one of my children Gregg when I grew up. True to my plan, I did.

I saved all of my quarters until I had enough to go down town and pick out a skirt and blouse that had never been worn by anyone else! I had to go shopping with Mart, she was three years older than I. We walked down town. We shopped at Wren's and I still remember my outfit. The skirt was powder blue wool and the blouse was yellow silk. I paid for it all by myself!! Life was tough and we didn't even live in a river town.

Fortunately, we finally moved to the other end of town and my job ended. Thank God.

Rosalie was the person that said Mart was a true Irish Beauty but I was just cute. The nerve! Come to think of it maybe she was 40 pounds over weight!

Thanksgiving Memories

There is an article in today's paper about Thanksgiving dinners and the dynamics of the family get together. They even had a list of subjects to avoid, seating arrangements, a list of possible reactions to certain member's outbursts, suggestions for limited alcohol consumption all good advise. Rather interesting, that the writers felt a need for guide lines.

My memories of Thanksgiving go back a long way. During FDR's regime the date for Thanksgiving Day was changed to the fourth Thursday of November. It used to be a week earlier.

We always went to London, O for Thanksgiving because that's where all of our relatives lived. My grandparents lived back to back. Mother's parents lived on Fourth St. and Dad's lived on Fifth St. When I was very young we used to take the train to London and then walk from the depot to Grandma Morrissey"s house. We didn't have a car until I was in the 6th grade. Dad worked for the Big Four Railroad so we had free passes and used them almost every Sunday and on all holidays to travel to London.

Back in the day, it was not uncommon in big Irish families to have a few unmarried uncles and aunts. They were included in the family get together, of course. So at Grandma Morrissey's two of my mother's sisters Agnes and Catherine (who still lived at home) were present and my grandma's two brothers Uncle Ben and Uncle Tom, who lived on the family farm with another brother's family, were present. Our immediately family consisted of my mother, dad, Joseph, Martha, Paul and me. Grandma and Grandpa made twelve. My two brothers, my sister and I were the only grandchildren despite the fact that my grandparents had ten children.

My Great Uncle Ben raised turkeys on his portion of the farmland so he always provided the turkey for dinner. Great Uncle Tom provided the bourbon for the before dinner highball. We children did not partake of that ritual. Nor did we get to sit at the big table. We sat at a side table in the dining room so we were privy to all the conversations etc. but children were seen and not heard at that period in history. "Speak when you are spoken to." Okay.

The table was laden with turkey and all of the trimmings. Most of the vegetables were grown on the surrounding farms, the fruit for the jellies and jams, the pickles and relishes were all made by Grandma, the oysters were purchased from a store that had them in large crocks and measured them out by the quart or pint as you wished. The desserts were all home made and all delicious. The setting was very formal and the conversations were interesting and low key and there was a warm feeling of conviviality and love.

We spent a big portion of our time at my Grandma Charters' house too. My dad's unmarried sister,Mary Louise still lived at home and two of his brothers, Adrian and Coe were still unmarried and both had jobs that required them to travel. They were always home for the holidays though. Things were very different at that house. Grandma roasted a turkey, made dressing and side dishes and it was left on the stove and you could serve yourself. The oysters were not in a casserole they were raw, served with crackers and again you helped your self. Mary Louise was the baby of the six Charters children and Coe and Adrian were much younger than dad too. They were free spirits. There was a lot of laughter, teasing and fun along with a lot of disapproving looks from Grandma but the beat went on. Grandpa loved it, he sat back and watched all the activity. Dad joined in with his two fun loving brothers and of course we children were included in the high old times. Mother visited for awhile and then went back to be with her family. The bourbon was not limited to the before dinner highball. The convivality and love was there also, just presented at a different level.

I cherish the memories of both family celebrations and know the important lesson that I took away from my youth. Family is the most important aspect of life. We are all different and have different ideas and different personalities but bottom line is: WE ARE FAMILY. Be thankful!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!

The Great Rip Off of the Indian Head Rock

Attorney General Jack Conway, in an effort to avoid escalating an ongoing dispute with an Ohio city regarding our rock, sent a letter last month to Portsmouth, Ohio city officials and two nefarious residents of Ohio seeking a settlement. AG Conway is trying to avoid a long drawn- out civil case in federal court.

It is theorized that possibly some prehistoric Indians were the original owners of this rock. It bears numerous carvings of initials, names and a crude face. I'm wondering about those initials. What script were they written (carved ) in ? Were they in Sanskrit? Arabic ?Hebrew? German or maybe Russian since the prehistoric Indians were said to have walked across Bering Strait when it was frozen and then stranded here, hence the first Indians. (Misnomer, as we all know.)
I'm a little leery about the initials.

Anyway, the 8-ton boulder, known as Indian Head Rock, was an attraction for tourists on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River but it has been submerged in the river for the last 90 years. Prior to its submersion it had been listed on Kentucky's official antiquities register. In 2007, the two above mentioned nefarious men removed it from the Ohio River, without going to federal court for a permit. The bolder now rests in a garage in Portsmouth, O. We want our rock back!

We also want a public apology and $90,000.00 for the attorney fees and to build the building we want to house the rock in! A letter has been sent to the historian who led the removal effort, to the City Solicitor,and one of the alleged divers, and as yet there has not been a response to these letters. The dead line for the response was last Wednesday but the day passed and no response.(Shows you what caliber of people we are dealing with). Shaffer and Vetter the two that removed said rock and are facing felony charges referred all questions to their lawyers who also did not respond. Portsmouth's mayor did not respond either.

A fiery speech was made on the House floor by a member of the Kentucky State Legislature and a resolution was passed calling for the rock's return. It is still a no show! State Rep. Reginald Meeks, said he is "very satisfied" with the proposed settlement of this problem. "These historic and ancient items we have in our state deserve to be protected, I believe it's appropriate that the rock have a final resting place on land that's near the site where it originally was removed from the river." Lots of luck getting the $90 thou,Reg.

Someone in Portsmouth is between a rock and a hard place!! I'll wait for the return of the rock! Watch for further developments.

Identity

I had a very pleasant afternoon last Saturday. Kristin called and said she and Rowan were coming over to visit. Saturday morning I had watched the video of Rowan being one of the Kerry dancers. He performed very well to the Irish tune playing in the background. He is a natural! I suddenly wished that I could see him again and get up close and personal with him. I really haven't had a chance to spend much 'quality' time with him. So when Kristin called to say they were coming, I was very pleased. Maureen was taking a nap because they had just spent time visiting Bernheim Forest and she was worn out. Rowan is portable when he is napping.

Anyway, he woke up when he got here and I held him and got the full benefit of his charm! He smiled, babbled, kicked and showed his dimples. He is getting so big and so social all of a sudden. Kristin said she looks at him once in awhile and says, "Who are you?" I had the same experience! He does not look at all familiar. He has light hair, beautiful blue eyes, but not Tim and Maureen blue and he is fair of face and full of grace. (Hence the dancing).

He is just Rowan! He has his own look, his own identity. If that doesn't change, he will grow up much as I did with the ever present question, "Who does he look like?" I heard that query all of my life. Why does society think we each one of us have to look like someone else. Why can't we just look like ourselves? Why can't we be individuals?

I had to tolerate a battery of questions growing up. Where did the red hair come from,? Where did the freckes come from? They would always remark about how short I am, as if my family had not noticed. They would tick off the physical characteristics of my immediate family that I failed to inherit. Hair color, complexion, height, disposition and so on. One of my cousins, one time, could not remember my name and by way of getting the others to know who he was speaking of, said,"You know, the short, funny looking one" (I tried to follow his career as closely as I could, because I felt sure he would end up in jail sooner or later.) Sad thing about that incident is that they immediatly knew who he was talking about! Oh, you mean Betty! They failed to recognize a diamond in the rough when they saw one!!.

Maureen is a tough act to follow, she has so much personality and is so socially adept but I think Rowan is going to be able to hold his own. I hope to see him more often. Ciao

Values

I am still getting mailings from my high school that I went to back in the late 30's and early 40's. A few years ago I received a letter from my grade school! I graduated from the eighth grade in 1938. Their letter reminded me that " probably most of the values that I have today were taught to me in St Joseph's School." When I reflected on that statement I must say I agree with that premise. We focused on learning at that school. When we left our home each morning and went off to school our parents were very secure in the fact that we were walking into an institution that would shore up the values that we were being taught at home. School was just an extent ion of the family.
Back in the early 1900's a prominent anthropologist from Yale University traveled around the world to study all of the major cultures of the world. He found that all of the cultures shared the same value system that we do. Values like Courage, Prudence, Perseverance, Self Control, Honesty, Ethics, Morality, Compassion to name some of them. It was determined that the nature of man drives the necessity of values being taught. It has been said that ignorance is man's worst enemy, knowledge is man's only defence against the abuse of power and corruption.Education is the cure for such ignorance as behavioral non-conformity, lack of consideration of others, a knowledge of right and wrong.
We have to start educating and building a value system for people when they are still in their babyhood. We teach them to "share" to say "please,thank you" (consideration for others)They rapidly learn to respond to praise for "good behavior" and to sanctions for "bad behavior." As a teacher of children for 40 years, I could determine which children had a good basic understanding of honesty, self control, courage and so on. The later they start to learn basic values the harder it is to teach them.
In most cases children mirror the values of their parents. I have wondered so many times if the parents and adults in the child's world realize the lessons the child is learning from them. I had a young boy in my class one year that told me they were going to Florida on spring break and it was not going to cost anything. When I asked how this came about he very proudly said ,"Well my dad owns his own business and when we go places he looks at places that are for sale and then he charges the trip to his company because he can say it's a business trip!" Uh.
What messages are the children learning today when they view political ads. Some of them are out and out lies and others lies by innuendo. I am very disheartened. Character assassination is rampant. What value system is that? Fewer and fewer good people will be running for office because of this 'accepted' practice. Then what defense will be put in place to cure the abuses of power and corruption? Who do we hold responsible for this and how do we stop it.?

October Haiku

Pumpkins out at night
black cats and white ghosts also
Happy holloween

Phone rage

I have to wonder what things I could have accomplished if I could have utilized the time I've spent trying to tend to business by using the "convenience " of the telephone. I've become very leery of the jaunty, cheery, phony voice that greets the caller with, "Welcome to ..." I swear it is the same man's voice, no matter who you are calling. "Welcome to National City!" Welcome to Insight!", Welcome to AT&T!" " For English, press one, for Espanol press two" then come the choices of presses. All choices connect you to computer voices and more opportunities to 'press numbers. Problem is, none of the choices even remotely address the problem you are calling about.

Fury is futile, scurrilous remarks fall on deaf ears, tears of frustration are wasted and when you do eventually reach a 'press ee' that gives you hope of talking to an actual human being with a pulse, you are put on hold.

"Hold" is a unique method of torture. Elevator and grocery music is delightful compared to 'hold' music. I think when the 'Welcome to... guy answers his first directive should be press a number to say," No "to 'hold' music.

In the unlikely event that you do eventually get a human being on the line, I always feel compelled to ask if they are ,in fact, human. Sometimes I hear a tinge of displeasure in their voice and I am not always able to contain my aggravation at talking finally to a real person. I frequently have to apologize for the fact that when I initiated the call more than two hours ago, I had a purpose in calling but due to the stress of number pressing, making choices, listening to torturous music and managing my anger, I can no longer remember why I was calling!

Life is tough in this tech world!

Reflections

When I was a young child I was afraid of storms. I would hide my head under blankets or even get into a covered space. My mother, however, tried to calm my fears by resorting to her faith. She would take a piece of palm that we had received on Palm Sunday at church and stick it out the window. She assured us that the storm would be over in about ten minutes but meanwhile we could count on the blessed palm for protection. My skepticism went unchallenged. No Noah, or Radar or scientific methods of weather prognostications were available to us. Just rural folklore. We lived through the storms so the palm must have done the trick.

When I had my own children, Mother gave me a lesson in how to be a mother. She said now that I had children of my own I could not let them see me cowering in some corner. She said I needed to be unafraid or at least pretend to be unafraid and thereby show courage to my children so that they would not be fearful. I did as she advised and actually did get to the point where I could reassure them and remain calm during storms. There was no mention of the palm solution. But one time Mike spent a day or two at her house and when he came home he said, " It stormed while I was there but Grandma stucked a plum out the window and the storm stopped pretty soon." Still worked!

I learned that I made many mistakes when I was raising my children. I learned this by observing my children with their children. They had the courage to give their children independence at a much earlier age. When mine were young I carried them out to the car, up the stairs, into their highchair etc.etc. I t was much easier for me because it didn't take as long to get things done. Not so with my grandchildren! It was not as quick but they walked to the car, climbed or crawled up the stairs, struggled into their chair, bed etc.etc.
They were encouraged to wash their own hands, take their own bathes and dress themselves at an early age. Granted sometimes their shirts were on backwards and they did not always have the shoes on the right feet but they did it themselves.

I wonder how my children are seeing their children now that they are grown, married and parents themselves. Whose system of child rearing are they following. Are the grandchildren getting the independence that they got at an early age? Are the grandchildren as well disciplined or organized as their parents? I love being privileged enough to get to see the third generation and watch them grow and blossom into real people!

The thing is, the best way to rear good kids is to set good examples. Give them a road map, so to speak, that will show them how to be brave , polite, generous, moral, and tough. Have fun doing it, too.

Midwestern Hurricane

It was a week ago today that we were almost blown away! Sustained winds of 50 miles an hour and gusts up to 75 or 80 mph. That officially classifies it as a hurricane. Right,Pat? It took most of us by surprize. High winds were predicted but not as high as we got.

My power was off from Sunday until Thursday night. I stayed at Karen and Paul 's the first night but when it became obvious that the power was not coming back for quite awhile, I decided I should stay home. Our dinner at Karen's and Paul's on Sunday night was truely great. Paul put a beef tenderloin on the grill along with some potatoes to bake and while we waited for that to cook we had tomatos with Camenbert and blue cheese chunks with olive oil and balsemic vinegar drizzled over it and Greek seasoning sprinkled on it along with some sushi that had to be used because of the power outage and of course a few glasses of Sharaz wine. We ate outside of the enclosed patio and had candles on the table to add to the ambiance and to allow us to see what we were eating. Even Fergus got to join us and he has a liking for sushi ,we discovered, when he helped himself to a serving. We topped our gourme meal off with fresh peach pie that I had baked just before the power went off. Life is tough in these River Towns.

We have a large oak tree in the front yard and T. Tabb, the owner of the empty house next door, has two large oaks in the front yard and one in the back along with an ash tree between the houses. Needless to say we had many, many limbs down in both front and back yard. My deck table and umbrella with all my shamrock plants and ceramic hippo and tiger were all blown over and some even off the deck. The umbrella was blown into the yard next door and my neighbor behind me saw it going so he and his wife jumped in their car and came over to help me and so they had a view of a huge branch spliting off their tree and falling on their deck where they had been standing just before coming to my aid. Very frightening.

On Monday, Michele, Jeff, Julie and Jane came to help clean up my front yard. Christian, my teenage neighbor that I taught at MDS when he was in the 7th and 8th grade came to clear my deck of branches. Karen and Paul swept the deck and helped pick up the plants.

Brian, who used to camp frequently, came over and brought me a Colman stove and a battery powered lantern, and a minor's lamp so I could read. Gregg brought me a cooler full of ice and cokes.( they were even the baby bottled cokes which I can hardly survive without!) Linda brought me some items from the store that I could eat without cooking. Life is good!

One evening, Karen, Paul, Kathy, Abby and I went to Red Lobster for dinner and one day we went to Buckheads for lunch and one day I went to The Cafe' with Toni and her mother for lunch. Penny Skinner had me down for a fantastic dinner that her husband, Jack, had prepared on the grill. Salmon with dill sauce and sweet potatoes. Penny brought me home before dark and then later that night, my power came back on.

There are so many stories of people helping each other. As I drove down the street I noticed the bright orange heavy duty extention cords stretched across the street. One neighbor on one side had power and the person across the street did not so they shared. Isn't that beautiful? Many people had generators and so they could get by. Gregg was without power until last night! one day short of a week! He has a generator and he said it cost just about $30.00 a day to run it. The people with gas ranges were lucky, Linda had no power but she does have a gas range so that made life somewhat easier. Mike and Jane lost their power for just two days. Kathy and Michele and Brian didn't lose theirs. Kris and Tim were without for five days also.

Midwestern Hurricanes are a lot easier to deal with than the coastal ones because we have no water surges, no levees etc. to worry with. For us it is a huge inconvience and we did have some fatalities but nothing nearly as bad as they are dealing with along the Texas coast.

August 22, 2008 11:43AM

On August 22, 2008 at 11:43, Doc peacefully passed into eternity. We had a long and fruitful marriage. We were married in Covington, Kentucky on February 28, 1942. During the next nineteen years, we had six children. He spent two years as a soldier in WWII and because of Crowell Collier Publishing Company's demise he worked in Kentucky for a year while I waited in Springfield, O for him to find a house for us and in later years, he spent a year away from our home working in Mt. Vernon, Illinois until he could get a job here in Louisville again. Four years out of the sixty-six we were together.

We had some rocky times and we had some smooth times but we always toughed it out and came out on top. It would be hard to tell in the limited space of this blog what we accomplished in the sixty six years of our union and hard to tell of the joys and sorrows we endured together. The important thing is we lived up to our commitment: "for better or for worse until death do us part."

It is comforting to know that his genes live on in the fourteen grandchildren and twenty-some great grandchildren and the impact of their lives and deeds will benefit future generations. Who knows what great things they can or will accomplish? He will be a part of it all. His genes live on!

" And can it be that in a world so full and busy, the loss of one creature makes a void in any heart,so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth of eternity can fill it up!"
Charles Dickens

Rescue Mission (Part one)

On the Yard Sale circuit you frequently see items that are pretty much useless to anyone! They are beyond salvaging and un-restorable. (Is that a word?) I've made it my mission though, to salvage the broken and seriously deformed religious icons.

I have an Infant Jesus of Prague that is without a hand. He has a little wooden stub protruding from his right sleeve. He is in need of the services of the local hand surgeons. It would have to be a transplant for the hand is long gone. Tragically, while residing in my downstairs room on the top of the book case, he fell (or was pushed) onto the floor and lost his head. The head rolled behind the bookcase and I could not retrieve it so he stood there, headless and hand less for a number of months. Finally the head was found and my attempts to re-attach it have not met with success. I'll keep trying. I paid twenty-five cents for him.

On top of the cluttered shelf on the wall of that same room stands the Headless Monk. He arrived at our house about thirty-five years ago. I like to think he was seeking refuge. He came in a box of Keith's art supplies and I have never been able to discern if he was created by Keith or by an unknown artist. Why doesn't he have a head? What secrets lurk behind this mystery? I do not know.

I have another Infant Jesus of Prague that has a small planter attached to the rear of his body. The planter is cracked, chipped and barely hanging on and would not bear up under the burden of dirt or water. This, too is a yard sale purchase. Cost? Twenty- five cents.


When I was lying in my hospital bed after one of my cancer surgeries, heavily drugged, one of my good friends brought me a statue of St Peregrine, the patron saint of cancer. She placed him on the bedside table. After she left, I threw my arm out to the side and inadvertently knocked him off onto the floor. His head went in one direction and his body in another. Linda was present in the room and she got on her hands and knees and crawled around the floor looking for his head. she found it under the bed. I was devastated because I thought it might be an omen! I beheaded the patron saint of cancer! Realizing how upset I was, Linda assured me that she would take it across the street to Tonini's and see if they could repair it. They were very understanding and graciously said they would take it back and give us a new one. Whew! He resides on my dresser with a couple of angels, a teensie Mary and an Infant Jesus of Prague that is in mint condition!

I now have a new mission. Kris and Tim bought a lovely old home in the Highlands that was formerly owned by a prolific Catholic family. As part of the tour on my first visit to their new home, I spied a statue of the Virgin Mary hiding in the weeds beside the garage and fence. She was in pretty rough condition. It was love at first sight for me. I asked what they intended to do with her , hoping that I could be a part of her salvation. They had no plans for her! I suggested that maybe I could adopt her. They agreed to let me have her but she still hung out there by the garage for the next two years. A week or so ago Stephanie and I visited Kris, Maureen and new citizen, Rowan Patrick. I checked to see if Our Lady of the Lally was still there. She was! Stephanie went out to check her out and said, " We can take her if you want." I wanted! So we wrapped her in a plastic bag and carefully placed her in the car and brought her home.Jubilation!

To be continued.

...and nobody got hurt!

Today being the first Wednesday of the month, I went to Senior Citizen's day at the grocery. I've been there before and vowed I would not try it again but now I feel I have to take part because since I am not working this year at school, I have to watch my pennies. I even took coupons! The thing is, the really, really old people are there in force. They come as a couple and he pushes the basket and takes up half of the aisle and she chooses the items off the shelves, thereby taking the other half of the aisle. It does no good to say, "Excuse me." because they don't hear too well and they are focused on the task at hand. Gridlock in every aisle. Only the beer aisle is clear, because it is about two times as wide as the other aisles but I don't drink beer ;however, I do stop there for a little respite.

In the beer aisle, no one pushes their basket into you or into your basket, or knocks cans of beans off the shelf, or boxes of cereal, no peaches rolling across the floor because the bottom peach looked better than the one on top.

I must say I do share the shock of the prices, the containers are getting smaller and the contents are less but the price is the same or even higher. They reduce the amount of ice cream by a pint and make the container look like it holds a full gallon and then put a sign on it saying' SALE'. They are so disingenuous. Whoever "they" are .

By the time I left the store, I felt like I had been in the demolition derby. I lived through the Great Depression, World War Two and now shopping at the peak hour for seniors at Krogers. Next month I am going really, really early and try to beat the mob. Total cost for the day, $73.53. Ciao.

Lori Jane Fitzgerald

Lori Jane Fitzgerald made her entry into the world yesterday at 5:49 PM. She weighed in at eight pounds, seven ounces and is 19&1/2 inches long. She is beautiful! She has a light dusting of brown hair and blue eyes (so far) and a little round face with rosy cheeks.

I went up to visit her today and got to hold her, soothe her, sing to her and pat her bottom and sway with her. She stayed awake, followed moving objects with her eyes, hic-upped and soiled her panties! She was very calm and engaged while doing it all. I got to change her, and swaddle her and get her ready for lunch. Amanda was all freshened up and back in bed after she and the nurse had a trip to the bathroom. Amanda looks great, tired and proud.

Lori Jane had on a tiny pink flowered dress and a pink onesie. Already a little stylish tot. She was just eighteen hours old. I can't wait to see her again.

Welcome to the world, Baby Girl! You've got a couple of big brothers and two boy cousins so get ready for. It's going to be fun! You look like you are up to the task! Lots of love from, Great Grandma

Brett and Amanda, congratulations.

Well the pistol packin mama was charged. The Grand Jury indited her and I think she no longer can carry a gun. Her trial will come up in November, if not before.

Her past encounters with police and her brushes with the law will not be allowed as evidence in the upcoming trial. However; the account of the brushes with the law that the shootee has had will be allowed in the trial. We'll keep our eye peeled for the next chapters.

Have you ever traveled into the back roads of Southern Indiana? It is beautiful country. Rolling hills, pastoral scenes, beautiful trees and fields of wheat, corn, soy beans abound. The 'u-pick' farms are lovely and fun to visit and to 'pick'. Back in the day, I used to go pick strawberries there and then come home and make jam and always a pie or two using the rich, ripe , sweet fruits of my labors. I tried picking peaches one year but the fuzz from the peach skin on my sensitive skin did me in. I could not tolerate it. I did enjoy the pies I made from the few peaches I picked before giving up and fleeing the peach orchard!

The people of that area are so peaceful appearing, and seem so satisfied with their life style. Their homes are always trim and neat looking. Their lawns near the homes are always mowed, bushes trimmed, and lovely flower gardens along the fences bordering on the fields around their yards are colorful. They sometimes have yard art, a cement deer,a squirrel, a rabbit, gnomes or a fancy bird bath or the like. The most prevalent yard art though, is probably the discarded toilet that has been converted to a planter. A white china toilet bowl over flowing with purple petunias, yellow batchelor buttons, salvia, baby breath, maybe a vine or two mixed in. Country chic, so to speak


You frequently see bathtubs turned on end with a statue of the blessed Mother standing in them. Flower beds surround the "grotto" and some even have a few large stones at the base.That area is referred to as the Knobs and it is peopled by hard working, devout rural inhabitants that are watched over by Our Lady of the Bathtub. You feel the serenity as you drive the curving country roads in that area. I don't have a bathtub to give away but if you would like to have an American Standard toilet bowl to convert into a planter, give me a call. I have one that I am not going to be using.

Road-rage continued

The ongoing saga of the shooting of the biker has just added another chapter. The Grand Jury was convened Monday and their assignment was to hear all the evidence and make a decision on the shooting event. Should charges be filed and if so against which participant?

Well, first to be called was the motorcyclist. His wife had to push him in his wheel chair since he is still pretty much incompacitated. He did have to stand to go through the metal detector and the empty chair had to go through also. He was well groomed and clad in a plaid shirt. He is in his fifties and other than the fact that he has a bullet lodged behind his liver, he seems to be in good shape physically. He was also accompanied by his lawyer. Of course Grand Jury hearings are private and the information gathered in these hearings cannot be released to the public. His lawyer spoke for him after the proceedings and said that he was questioned by the jurors and gave his account of what transpired. The lawyer said that his client told investigtators that the woman fired without provocation as soon as he got to her vehicle and he only wanted to tell her to stop following him so closely!

Yesterday the shooter got her chance to tell her side of the story. She came to court in a white dress and heels. Her hair was very nicely arranged and her make up seemed conservative and lady like. Her lawyer had previously said that she might not testify. He would be speaking for her. She did testify, after all, and when the lawyer was asked if her decision to do so followed his advice, he replied: " I'm not going to comment on that."

The shooter has told police that the motorcyclist tried to hit her and she shot in self-defence. Her fifteen year old son appeared at the hearing also and was questioned because he was a witness. Son was dressed in a crisp looking white shirt and dark tie, he was well groomed, too. (No sag pants here!) He, according to a witness, got out of the car after the shooting and kicked and yelled at the man lying in the street.

Her lawyer said she is under much stress. He is quoted as saying that " this is a 39 year old lady that has never even had a traffic ticket!" He said it (the shooting incident) is weighing on her mind as heavily as you can imagine.

A decision will be forth coming from the grand jury by the end of this week. Seems that these are two clean cut citizens that had a misunderstanding! It could just end up as a:"He said" "She said" event. The lawyers have both acknowledged that a rolling dispute just before the incident played into their client's misunderstanding.

Besides, she has a licence to carry! What good is that if you never get to use it?

To be continued.

Rowan Patrick

Our 23rd. great grand child was born last Wednesday, June25, 2008 he weighed in at 7lbs.7 ozs and is 19 inches long. ( I typed this same thing the day he was born but it dissapeared into cyber-space.) I went up to the hospital to visit him and his parents. He is a beautiful baby. He was only about 5 hours old but he appeared to be very calm and happy to be here!

I could not tell who he lookes like or resembles. He has very light hair and white eye lashes and eye brows, so maybe he will live up to his name. Rowan, it says means red-headed Irishman.

They came home from the hospital yesterday and he and his big sister, Maureen had a chance to get to know each other. I think they are going to have to synchronize sleep times to make for a more pleasant existance for moma and daddy.

I think they are going to be an outstanding family and I can hardly wait to interact with them. Maureen will have a lot to teach Rowan and he will also teach her what having a baby brother is all about. Won't it be fun? Lots of love to all of them from Great-grandma.

Whine time

Gasoline is now over $4.00 per gallon. I filled up my tank and it cost $60.00 How did everything get so far out of control? All of the important items that all families need are becoming so costly because of the gas prices, milk, meat ,vegetables, cereals, fruits , medications and many, many more items are all much more expensive than usual.

We can no longer trust that our foods are safe to eat. Fresh spinach causing e-coli illnesses and even death, fresh tomatoes causing salmenella ( I don't know how to spell that word) and certain medications causing heart problems...what next?

Air travel has become an embarrassment. Prices have more than doubled and service has deteriorated to the point that more and more people are not flying because of delays, cancelled flights, lost luggage, fees charged for each bag, and finally the ultimate insult...no nuts!

I have a $150. voucher to fly anywhere in the U S that Delta sent me to try to soothe my ruffled feathers over a snafu that caused me to spend a night in Atlanta on my way to Sarasota. I figure I could probably fly to Cincinnati one way on that meager amount.

On top of all this, my car radio quit working, my television in my bedroom only works part of the time and seems to be getting worse, and if that isn't enough, the squirrells keep digging up the plants in my planter on the front porch!~

On the other hand I'm trying to get my 'stuff' organized, and I'm making progress. My car trunk is now empty of all school supplies and books, some of which have been there since May 2007. The weather has been spectacular and I got to go to Cincinnati to a Reds game...life is sweet!

continued

I heard on the news yestrday that the same person that shot the man on the motorcycle also lost her cool at a basketball game at a YWCA where her child was playing in a game, and argued with a fan and finally hit the person in the forehead with the heel of her hand! This girl has a serious anger problem! That must have been before she got her gun.She has a trail of victims! Do you think Apex can top this?

When you have little casual exachanges with other people, strangers you meet in the grocery line, at the gas pump, sitting next to you at the ball game, and various other places it's a good thing. Conversation snippets like, "I hope the rains stop. I think I left my windows up." I had to run out to the grocery before breakfast, I'm out of milk." "How about those Cards? :Wildcats?" "Shamrocks"? (Depending on what logo they are wearing) You are less likely to be harmed by those people because by your casual remarks you become 'real' to them. If people are not 'real 'to each other they are dangerous to each other. I read that somewhere and I sorta believe it to be true. Now, it won't always work, like if you say, " I think your wig is on crooked." or "Wow, what size shirt do you wear?" or other tactless little snippets ,you may well expect to be hurt.

We do need to be more civil to our fellow men and women. The other day I came out of the grocery store and it was raining really hard. I have a pop up umbrella and my hands were very cold and blue and numb, I could not press hard enough on the button to get the umbrella up. I struggled with it for a few minutes and finally I asked the woman standing next to me if she could help me out. She was very gratious and popped it open for me. She had no umbrella so I asked if she would like me to walk her to her car. She was so surprised and thankful for the offer. There we were exchanging little pieces of humanity!

Speaking of which, I read an article in the paper this morning that pointed out to us that, " We live in dangerous times." A company spokesman for Occidental Petroleum Corp. said "Executives from oil-and-gas companies have been threatened and abducted." So, because of this they spent $774,756 last year on home-alarm systems and around-the-clock security guards to keep their CEO Ray R. Irani safe. (Name sounds phony to me.)

Directors of Valero Energy Corp, a rival oil concern with more than four times Occidental's revenue, aren't as worried. Their spending on security for CEO William R. Klesse last year totaled just $239 for a home-alarm monitoring service,that was a perk recently extended to all Valero workers. What can I say?

Road Rage Gone Wild!

We still have not totally solved the last shoot out in Kentuckyanna and now we have another one brewing. It seems we have a woman this time with a teen-age son and a gun up against a Harley Dude.

They got into some kind of game whereby the take turns cutting each other off and tempers flared. The Harley Dude had had it and he raced ahead and stopped in the middle of the road and got off his bike and decided to have a little face to face confrontation. He strode up toward the teen's mama's car and she pulled out her gun and plugged him in the chest! I understand they had exchanged words but I don't think he got to use his there at the end.

A further review of the situation revealed that mama had been involved in a similar incedent of this nature a few months ago. Seems that time that the opponent was a man in a car. When he reached the boiling point he also jumped out of his car and approached her. She quickly pulled her gun and aimed it at him and he turned tail and ran. He got the heck out of Dodge. Good thinking on his part, I'd say. This has become a habit for her. However, she had a licence to carry!! Do they not revoke your licence if you use your gun irresponsibly?

The Harley Dude (one time manslaughter convict) is still in University Hospital. I wonder if he has a gun.

I don't think any charges have been made yet but I'll be watching and keep you posted. I do have a bit of advise, Don't , under any circumstances get out of your car and approach another person, if they are cutting you off just blow your or (Per Karen, flip them the bird and run like hell.

Tim Russert R.I.P.

As those of you that know me know that I am a political junkie. I love politics, government, history, and anything to do with those subjects. I love to watch all the TV coverage of the elections, the candidates and openion shows. I like to be informed. I like to try to make informed decisions when I vote, at any level. I cringe at the thought of people going to the polls and voting for people because they like their name, because their next door neighbor likes a certain one, or because the candidate is good looking, or for any number of frivolous reasons. Maybe we'd be better off if they just didn't vote at all.

For a number of years I have read the columnists, listened to the broadcasters, read News magazines, read The Atlantic, Washington Monthly and other publications that keep us informed so that I can get a better picture of the people that will be running our city,county, and Country. I think it is every American's duty to ask what our candidates believe in, what their concerns are, are they going to try to make an effort to better the lives of all the people, rich and poor alike. I want compassionate people governing our country. The only way I can get a handle on what kind of people are seeking office is to pay close attention to all of the above mentioned venues.

I also have to study the people telling us the news, I read about their backgrounds, their education, their family lives their veracity and integrity. Some of them I can dismiss out of hand because they do not exhibit the values and behavior that meet the highest standards.

Tim Russert was one of the people that I held in high regard. He was honest, humorous, compassionate, well informed and above all ,he was kind. Even though he was a relentless interviewer, he was never arrogant or openly judgemental. He tried his best to present people as they truly are. If they were not the caliber of person we would want to vote for he had a way of questioning them so that we could figure out for ourselves what they were like. I did not always agree with his predictions but I did agree more often than not. My disagreement at times was because I didn't want him to be right, but he was right more often than not, too

He was not shy about saying that he was a Roman Catholic, had gone to schools taught by Jesuits, he frequently mentioned a nun that was influncial in his life. He had good values and valued highly his family, his dad, his son and his wife. His dad drove a garbage truck in Buffalo, NY at one time, his parents were down to earth hard working, religious people and he followed in their footsteps and spoke often about giving his son those values that he had been taught. He was a humble man and he was not embarrassed to shed tears when the atrocites were overwhelming or on a few occasions, poignant.

Many, many times I've said, after watching some speech or some election result or some scandal, "I can't wait to see what Tim Russert has to say." He was so young and he is going to miss perhaps what will be the most important election in the history of America and we will miss him. I shed tears today. Who will be able to step up and try to fill the void?

PS

See, already I forgot to list a few of the attendees! Brett was one of the fishermen and we have a neat picture of him with Travis. The two of them are laughing it up over something. I also failed to list Amanda. We have some neat pictures of her also. By next year, (actually, by next month) we will have two more to add to the clan. Kristin will have her boy on June 25th and Amanda will have her girl in July. So really I forgot to list four people. Brett, Amanda, Boy Lally and Girl Fitzgerald. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Fitzgerald Family Fun Festival

We had our first annual FFFF and it was wonderful. We had about 35 people, counting the off spring. The gala took place at Andrea and Travis's home in Oldham Co. Beautiful surroundings, perfect weather, convivial family members and superior food all came together for a perfect day.

There was so much to do! A play ground structure up the hill a little way from the house, that the kids could climb in, slide down the slides , go through tunnels and have a good time in. There was a conventional swing set, with a super swing for adults, they had basket ball hoops, volley ball nets, acres of freshly mown grass to run on, a fishing lake, full of fish, and a long looping drive way that was ideal for riding one of the vehicles that were available to us. Any thing from a small hot wheel to a full sized ATV and plenty of helmets to go around.

Gregg had smoked a turkey in his "Big Green Egg" smoker and Andrea provided the ham and sandwich breads,and the appetizers and every one else brought a dish. People grazed on the shrimp cocktail, salsa and chips, and crackers and pimento cheese washed down by Margaritas, Pinot Noir, or your beer of choice. What a day!

It just happened to be the day before Kathy's birthday so we had a BD cake, complete with candles, (in keeping with the fire laws, we didn't have the full number of candles) and we had cup cakes and compotes of fruit. A feast fit for the Fitz Clan!

The little people, Gus, Abby, Kadon, Preston, Pearce, Robert, Jimmy, Sean, Bridget, Conor, and the two middle aged people, Julie and Jeff and the biggins' Paul, Travis, Scott, Tim and Joe all fished, while Maureen, and Marie hung out with the rest of us. Karen, Linda, Kristin, Jane, Andrea, Angela, Kathy, Stephanie,Erin, Nathan, Mike, Keith, Gregg, Lee and me. Brian took pictures of the fishers and the loungers and they are great.

Since I have been teaching school for 39 years and the number one teacher gift at Christmas time is an ornament. I had a plethora of ornaments. I have not had a Christmas tree these last years because it is too much of a chore to put it up by myself so I had a Great Ornament Give away. We displayed all of the ornaments on long tables that stretched across the width of Andrea's lower room and let everyone pick ornaments of their choice. We saved the ones that were not picked and will put them out next year at the 2009 FFFF. Any one wishing to get rid of an ornament can put it out with next year's crop.

The day was so full and there was so much to do and to talk about, I'm sure I have forgotten something noteworthy but if I think of any more I will write another blog tomorrow. We missed Jeanine, Rick, John and Jack, Shannon, Lenny, Eric, Nicholas and Daniel, Patrick,Kristy,and Alex, Courtney, Al, Ellen, Sam and Madeline, Larry, Doc and Paula. We hope they will join us next year and we can have even more fun!! Thank you Andrea for thinking the event up and thank you Travis for being such a good host, thanks Gregg for the turkey, and the riding machines. Thank everyone else for being there. Wasn't it fun?

"P I"report

I am going to heed the cries for help and understanding that my Grand-Dolberry has been pleading for, for so long. Lo, these many years he has suffered untold, well actually they were told, agonies with the ubiquitous weed that is so prevalent in the regions that he has chosen to live in. As you are all aware, he has had many near death experiences with the resulting skin eruptions from simply making contact with the odious weed.

I believe he was living in Chicago (Napierville) IL when he had to seek relief at a medical clinic. He later called his mom ( I think it was about 5 AM) and told her that the doctor said his condition was such that it would have killed a lesser man! Woe was him!

Since then he has suffered through numerous other attacks of this malady. Once again, he has been attacked and has been sleep deprived for days on end as a side effect of his meds.

So, I know how pleased and relieved he is going to be when he hears that there has been a pharmaceutical break-through and at last, instant relief (within one minute) is in store for him! Gloryoskie!! This new long awaited medication is called ZANFEL. It is available at your pharmacy, no prescription required, it's an OTC cream. Rather pricey at some pharmacy counters, $38.00 an ounce, but you can use it frugally and it has a ten year shelf life. It can be purchased on e-bay for $15.00 if you are lucky. It has been touted to be still effective after twelve hours and a bath. No more itching, no more oozing and no more pity parties!

How sweet it is! So Grand-Dolberry, run do not walk, to your neighborhood pharmacy and be
itch and ooze free for the rest of the summer. Amore and ciao, Owls Pine Tree.

May

This has really been an unusual May. Since January 1, the longest string of days without rain is six. That happened in April. We've had two three day stretches. We have had 67 days with rain. We are a little more than ten inches above the average rain fall for this time of year. The sun shone for a little while yesterday and peaked out a little today but as of now it is raining. The winds have been fierce also on some days. Our tree lost a limb and so did Tommy's. It has been very cool also, not too many days in the 70's. I'll get this out and read it in July when I'm complaining about the heat. Weather's the weather, whether or not.

I had an e-mail from Shannon with a slice of life in Japan. She wrote about an evening out with some of the people on the base. She said they went to another small town near theirs and ate at a restaurant. They had shabu shabu. She gave the directions for making shabu if anyone would like to try it. She said you must first ask the butcher to thinly slice either beef or pork for you. Then you ready a pot of boiling water and drop the slices of meat into the boiling water. Use your chop sticks for dropping the meat and for lifting it out when it is cooked. Use a scum skimmer to skim the scum off the water so that you can see what is cooking. Drop a few bites of seaweed in and leave it for flavor. She said the taste is rather strong at first but mellows out as it cooks. When the meat is cooked, dip it in soy or a mix of mashed seseme seeds and oil. (She said they make their own and mash it in a bowl with a dowel. ) Serve with gohan (rice) and a lot of vegetables and root looking things. Her advice is "Ganbatte" (go for it!)

They were at their neighbor's house for a First Communion celebration and the host had taken the hot dogs off the grill and placed them on a serving platter when low and behold a large hawk flew down and snatched a hot dog off the platter! Lenny had their dog, Kelly, on her leash and was so distracted by watching the hawk fly off with the hot dog that Kelly saw her chance and took a couple of hot dogs off the platter too. Seems all the neighbors thought that was very funny. Shannon said she was up three times in the night letting Kelly out in the back yard because of her hot dog induced belly ache. The next morning they noticed that all the leaves were gone from the pepper plants that Shannon had planted. They were puzzled about how an animal could have stripped the leaves off without damaging the stalks. After sometime, they finally decided that Kelly ate the leaves to relieve her belly ache.

Shannon was bemoaning the fact that that she will not be here for the Fitzgerald Family Festival. She said they will be back in the states in October and she hopes when we have a festival next year she can join us. She misses seeing family. It gets lonesome for her.

More later.

Just stuff

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I heard from or saw each and every one of my six children. How sweet is is to be a mother. I was visiting Doc when Mike called so I missed his first calls but finally got to talk to him late in the evening. Linda called and stated her intentions of holing up all day in her warm cozy house because it was such a miserable day weather wize. Gregg came on his way home from work and shared his derby pictures with me. They are terrific! Kristin and Tim picked me up and I went to have dinner with Karen and her family. We did in fact, Skype Carrie in Seattle, when I got home from there, Keith called from Sarasota with the great news that he, Angela, Conor and Bridget will be coming up to visit in three weeks. Fantastic! Brian had called me early in the morning and then came to see me late in the evening and shared his pictures. He has super pictures that he has taken from Derby Day on. Neat pictures of Big Brown in his bath, stall, walking, eating without his bridle and portrait shots, etc. His pictures are in an album and most of them 8 x 10's. There are pictures of Big Brown's trainer, owner, grooms and hot walker, and of course, his digs. All in all I had a fabulous day as a mother.

I did go right from Mass to get my gas tank filled and spent $56.00 ! So obscene! I couldn't get the cas cap off and had to ask for help. The guy that helped me kept calling me Babe and gave me a tutorial on how to take a cap off. Seems you have to turn it counter clockwize or ' to the left' as he kept telling me. OK. Then the pump wouldn't give me a receit and I had to go back inside to get it and my good Samaritan comiserated with me over the lousy start for my Mother's Day. I wished him well and went home.

Things went well clear up till about 8:30 PM when a huge limb blew off the oak tree in the front yard. I spend a lot of hours lying awake worrying about that tree falling on my house in the dark of night. Fortunately, the tree limb swept across the windows as it fell but as far as I can tell it did no damage.

Years ago when Keith and Brian were still in school, we went up to Ohio to visit. While we were there we went to London and we took Aunt Agnes for a ride to visit the cemetery and other places around Madison County. She showed us the land where she and my mother and the other eight children along with my grandma and grandpa lived. She pointed out a huge old tree standing proud and tall out in the open. She told us that fifty or more years before the tree stood behind their home. It seems my mother was always afraid that the tree would fall on their house and spent a lot of time worrying over it. Agnes pointed out that the house had long since rotted away to the point that it had to be razed and my mother had passed away also but the tree was still standing. The moral of that story was evident.

It was also on that trip that as we visited the family graves ,she had us drive to the burial spot that she and my Aunt Catherine had chosen. They neither one had married and lived together in the family home that Grandpa and Grandma had retired to in London. They had chosen their head stones and had them engraved and were all ready to go. The date of birth was there but the date of death was blank. She told Brian and Keith that she and Catherine wanted the two of them to be pall bearers for them and they made it easy for Keith and Brian by picking a site near the road so they didn't have to carry them far. Catherine lived for 95 years and Agnes lived for 88 years. Did you ever stroll through a cemetery and notice the birth date followed by a dash and then the death date? The whole life experience is represented by the _dash_ . Think of the history that that dash could unfold. Words of wisdom: 'make your Dash count/ Do the best you can!' PS. Brian and Keith did ,in fact, perform the duties of pall bearers as they had been asked to do.


There are 253 days left until we elect a new president.

Quote for the day: "If the Iranians were to have a nuclear weapon, they could proliferate."

Derby Day 2008

It is often called the Sport of Kings, but I think its a sport for all when it comes to watching it. Yesterday was the second largest crowd ever, to watch The Kentucky Derby. I was present at the first largest crowd back 34 years ago at the one hundreth running of the Derby . That year we went to the in -field and believe me there were no kings there. It cost $5.00 to get in and you were searched at the gate for alcohol and other substances and people from all walks of life were there. The riff-raff and the hoi pol loi all cheering together and all singing together and crying together.

Yesterday was still as thrilling as the first derby I attended. We are fortunate enough to get to be right on the fence about eight feet from the track. Hearing the thunder of hooves around the bend and watching the jockys literally 'jockeying ' for position is an experience that has no equal. Gregg took a picture of the horses just as they passed us and #20, Big Brown was very close to the back of the pack planning his circuitous trip to the finish line.

Gregg, Paul and Karen, Linda and Larry, Cynthia Sullivan and Paul Duryea, from Cincinnati, Nathan and the former ump from Denver, Junior, Brian and I were in it for the day. Brian had to leave frequently to attend to his duties and then he roved the whole area to take pictures. Gregg joined him to take pictures from the vantage point of seeing the horses rounding the bend after the race . They were right there when Eight Belles had her break down and had to be euthanized. She came in second in the Derby and had proved her mettle by beating every horse except Big Brown. She was a beautiful, beautiful filly and will long be remembered in the annals of racing. We all mourned her passing.

Linda's husband, Larry is a former Naval Officer and he told us that "8 Bells" is a Navy symbol that means," End of the Watch." When there is a burial at sea the ceremony ends with eight bells ringing.
This may not have had any thing to do with the naming of Eight Belles, it may well have been a coincidence because the belle part indicates a female but nevertheless, it was the end of her watch. We laugh in embarrassment over the sentimental tears that are shed when "Weep no more my Lady.. is sung but there was no joy in our tears for Eight Belles. She left her mark in the racing world. Larry Jones, we offer our sympathy.

On a happier note, I gave a list of bets to Karen to place for me, (the betting windows that were effecient were a 'fer piece' to walk, the near by windows were the tellers from hell) Anyway, Karen accidentally made the wrong bet, she bet #20 across the board instead of betting Pyro. I did also bet Dennis of Cork to show so I won!!! Thank you ,Karen.

We went to Bucco de Peppo (?) for a late dinner when the festivities were over and then came home and crashed. Cynthia and Paul got up at 6:AM and headed back to Cincinnati. A good time was had by all and we are looking forward to Derby 135.Thank you, Brian. You are definitely the host with the most! Thank you ,Gregg for the great pictures you've posted for us. We hope to see some of Brian's soon. We are so lucky to have you talented guys in our family.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Lilac Time

This is a tribute to my mother.Today is the 40th anniversary of her death. I am her name sake because I was born three hours before midnight on the 19 th of November and her 35th birthday was on the 20th of November. She was one of ten children, and was born in Madison County, Ohio. Her parents were first generation Americans, her grandparents were born in Ireland and migrated to this country because of the potato famine. She, also was named for her mother and Grandmother, Ellen Elizabeth.. Mother was the only one of the ten children in her family,that had children. My brothers, Joe and Paul and my sister, Martha and I were the only grandchildren of Ellen and Peter Morrissey.

Mother was a very soft spoken, kind and gentle person. Her strongest expletive was "Honest to John!" and she made a sound with her tongue that resembled ,"tsk, tsk, tsk. " She was not given to rants or loud chastisements or physical contact, just an "Honest to John!" showed her displeasure adequately.

When she was a young child, about two years old she fell from her mother's lap and fell on a scissors that her sibling was playing with on the floor and she lost the sight in her left eye. Consequently she was never allowed to learn to sew, or drive a car or a few other things that her family thought might harm her right eye. Actually she missed very little. Her vision was fine.

She was very interested in politics all of her life. So also was my father and his family. Both she and Dad were very active and involved in all election activity. We always had placards in our front window , comparable to yard signs today, for all the candidates that they supported. Dad was the campaign manager for one of his railroad colleagues that ran for mayor of Springfield, O. He won and we attended the celebration party when I was about nine or ten years old. Mother always worked at the polls and did a task beforehand called 'polling the ward'. As soon as I was old enough to work at the polls she signed me up to work too.

She never really made a fuss about things but in her quiet unassuming way she was ahead of all the other women . She went bra-less long before it became a 'statement', she had strong values and lived by them but did not condemn people that did not live or believe as she did. She figured there was room for all of us and we all had the right to be what we wanted to be. She was very devout but not overbearing or judgemental about others. She was truly a tolerant person.

Her sense of humor was sharp. She saw the humor in a lot of things and was always the first to laugh at the funny remarks we made. She especially liked my humor and I was always pleased when I could make her laugh or when I heard her repeat some of the witty things I said. The Great Depression happened during our early years and she was able to manage to do the best she could do with the pittance that Dad could bring home to her on payday. We never wanted for food or care in our lives. She stretched every dollar. My brother ,Joe, teased her frequently about her frugality. He would say, "Take down the wallpaper, we're moving!" and he had comments about how tight she was, so tight she squeeked, he would say. Nevertheless, we all knew that without her frugality we would have had life a lot worse than we did.

When, because of Dad's health, they moved to Arizona, she promptly joined the League of Women Voters and continued her volunteering work for the candidates of her choice.

I was married and had three babies when she moved to Arizona but I was only about 23 years old so she never got to know me as a grown up, mature woman. I regret that she did not get to know our wonderful children nor did they get to know her! She would have enjoyed them and enjoyed watching them grow up.

She loved lilacs and would grow homesick when it was lilac time in Ohio. Lilacs did not grow in Tucson. Dad nurtured rhubarb and coaxed it to grow out there but could never get lilacs to live long enough to bloom. She died on the 30th of April and we brought her home to London, O for her burial. She came home for her last time, at lilac time. She would have liked that!

Come Hell or High Water

When I was in the sixth grade at St. Joseph's School, in Springtfield, Ohio Our class room was on the second floor of the school and one day we all suddenly felt the room, desks etc. moving. The nun teaching us at the time made us rapidly get under our desks with our hands locked over our bowed heads until the tremmors ceased. I never got to see where the nun went. Did she get under her own desk or did she remain upright to make sure we all followed her orders? I'll never know. I do know that it was a pretty significant earthquake because there were reports of windows, dishes, and all kinds of things crashing to the floor and some minor damage to some structures, but nothing big.


Last week as I lay in my bed coasting as I like to call that period between deep sleep and wide awake period in the morning when I heard Fergus give a few squeeky barks (he had a sore throat) and them major rummblings. I thought my oak tree was falling in on the house, then I thought it was a Mack truck and finally as it gained intencity I realized it was an earthquake. My Galileo thermometer started rocking back and forth and the temperature bubbles starting banging against the glass sides, my whole bed shook and it was an interesting happening. I quickly turned on the TV, (the remote is in bed with me) and they were visibly shaking and calling attention to the lights shaking back and forth on the set. They were puzzled for the first few seconds but rapidly verified that it was an earthquake.



Quite a few people at school said their cats or dogs responded first, two said their caged birds went wild in their little cages, I called Brian at the track and he was in the field with a horse and there were a few other walkers with their horses and they all (the horses) called to each other and were a little nervous. Negligible damage was done here in Louisville and I don't think there was much damage done at the epi center of the quake. It was near the San Andreas Fault I think. IN MO.


Quote for the day: "This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating."
_ President Bush April 23, 2002

Spring Break

Here it is Thursday of spring break and I have pretty much followed my plan! I did a little yard work,very little. Michele and Jeff and Julie did the muscle burning job in the front yard. It took hours and looks great . The back will have to wait for awhile. I did go out today and sweep off the deck but other than that it still looks pretty primitive out there.

The weather has been relatively warm and so far it has only rained about 2 inches. We are expecting thunder storms after midnight tonight. I got to go shopping for a few hours with Karen one day and as usual I spent two or three hours at Klondike Manor each day. At least it was warm enough to take Doc out into the patio on two or three occasions.

I took my observation trip through the park on Saturday, and once again it is a sure sign that spring has in fact, burst forth. The trees are budding, the scanty attire is back, the bald convertible driver, runners, walkers, golfers and bike riders in all their glory are back. It is a reassuring sight to see the usual pattern of behavior repeating itself. It is an adult rite of spring. There are no children evident in the arena except the one's in the runners' strollers that moms are pushing. Really there was only one of those.

I have been reading the tome titled "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. It has 951 pages and I have reached page 549. I am enjoying the book; however , it is so heavy that I have to prop it on a pillow when I read in bed and on the arm of the chair when I read it in the living room. Good thing it is a paperback. It is quite facinating. I'm hoping I can finish the last 400 plus pages before I go back to school on Monday. More later.

285 days left until we get a new president.

Quote for today: " What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineat based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society."

_ President Bush, possible Trekkie, January 21, 2000

Heart to Heart

Once again I've been remiss . It has been awhile since I've written. I have been : a) busy, b) tired, c) lazy. ( Every thing is multiple choice now. )

It is just a week away from Spring Break, and I join all teachers in the joyful thought of its arrival! I expect to spend a lot of time during SB just reading and doing nothing. Well, maybe I should do some work in the yard, weather permitting, do some window washing, energy permitting, do some shopping, finances permitting, organizing, time permitting. If there is any time left over after the reading I'll get right to some of those tasks.

Yesterday I spent the greater part of the day at the Cardiovascular Associa;tes' offices. I had some changes in my EKG a few weeks ago and you know how it is in these times, we have to rush off and have tests in order to protect the primary care doctor from litigation.

I had to be there at 11:45 and I had to abstain from ANY form of caffeine for twenty-four hours in advance of being there and abstain from food and drink for 4 hours. I couldn't even take an Advil for my headache that was a direct result of the caffeine restriction. I had to teach until time to go and I felt pretty miserable. I feared that I was coming down with WGA. (what's going around) but the testing took my mind off that in a hurry.

First off they had to put an IV in my arm. I have had enough experience to know just what that maneuver entails. "Let's see here, is one of your arms better than the other?"
'Yes, they are not always successful with the right arm." (Notice I have disowned my arm by referring to it as 'thee arm')
"Well, I think I'll just give it a try anyway.I think I can find a vein here. Let's see if this one will work. Oh, I hope I'm not hurting you too much, I hate to fish around like this but the vein keeps slipping away. Your veins are so small! " (This translates to, see? this is your fault!) O.K. Maybe , I'll give your left arm a try" ( Again ,I wish to refer to it as 'the left arm') We proceed with more 'fishing in the left arm, The ' fisher' is exhibiting more and more angst.
"Sometimes they have to use one of 'the' hands." I suggested.
" I think I will have a look at your hands. Just let me put a piece of gauze over this." I now have matching arm gauze pads! After much scrutiny he found a vein that looked suitable to him. It was located on the right hand in the area just above my thumb and index finger. Finally, success! Whew! That procedure lasted about 25 minutes, Bruce and I ( we became quite friendly) had a long day ahead of us. The nuclear part of the test was uneventful, except that to protect the equipment they keep it quite cold in the lab. and I impressed Bruce by turning blue, then black and finnally dead white (my hands). He wrapped me in sheets and towels in an effort to warm me up. I ended up being the only patient of the day clad in a grey hospital garment and a winter coat and a scarf.

A great deal of time is spent sitting in a room waiting for the pictures to be read. I made the aquaintance of a few other women that were awaiting their pictures to be read. We had some in -depth discussions about health care, doctors and books. I was reading "The History of Love" at the time. They were all wishing that they had done that too. Not "The History of Love" but just brought


a book.
Next on the agenda was walking on the tread mill while being wired up with little patches that were hooked up to the monitor. I was really exhausted by that activity. I finally said I didn't think I could go any longer when they insisted that I could go on to the finish. They said I only had one more minute. Do you know how long a minute is ? I had to sit in a chair and pant for about five minutes before going on to the next act.
The cardio echo gram was the least invasive and rather interesting to see the ultra-sound of my heart beating and the sound of the blood swooshing in and out of the chambers. At one point it sounded like, "wow, wow, wow, wow, "very soothing." Bruce had to take my IV out, no problem there and then I got dressed and left for home, starved, tired and looking forward to all the caffeine I could drink. It was 5:00. Results, Tuesday.


There are 304 days left till a new president

Quote " It will take time to restore chaos, and order...order out of chaos."

President Bush;, speaking of the mess in Iraq, April 13, 2003

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although St. P's day is tomorrow, we have already celebrated it. Last night we, Karen, Kristin and I, joined Tim, and Paul and quite a few other Irish or psuedo Irish at the Bonnycastle Club to see an Irish Band and have sandwiches and the libation of choice. Paul, Tim and other fellow Hibernians marched in the St. Patrick's day parade. It rained, pretty much all day long. Sometimes it teemed rain but you know that would not stop a few Irishmen from walking, or marching or staggering down the middle of the street. It was a great day for the Guinn..I mean the Irish. The major complaint was how cold their hands got. Some had to pull the sleeves of their sweat shirts down over their hands so that they could hold the cold beers. I tell ya, life's tough in these river towns.

The music was great, they played many Irish favorites, sneaked a Scotish tune in and even a Hank Williams tune. There were four children there, three, four or five year old boys and an eight year old girl that danced all night long. Their energy was limitless. The band members said it gave them pleasure to see those kids having such a good time and spurred them on to play even more tunes. The young girl had the dance style of the River Dancers down pat and except for keeping her upper body still like they do, she is ready to Go. Fun! The band had one woman, I assume a Celtic girl, she played the flute and did a great job with a tin whistle. They said their lead singer was not with them but the fellow that took over for him was good. One guy was very colorful with a jaunty green hat and a Greatful Dead silk shirt on. It was as near to the feeling of being in an Irish Pub as I've had since being in Ireland. Having the young kids there and a grandpa dancing with his little grandson and a grandma with another tot and all the young couples having a convivial time in good company, with a generation older than them and a generation younger than them it was a memorable occasion. I hope I live to see another St. Patrick's Day! (Or maybe more) An Irish toast;" May you live all the Days of your life. Slainte"

Tomorrow back to school. I am looking forward to Spring Break. I've had about enough of waking up at 6AM every day!

310 days left till we have a new president.

Quote for today:" I like my buddies from West Texas. I liked them when I was young. I liked them when I was middle age. I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after preident."

--President Bush, Dr. Seuss-style, February 1, 2006

Snow at last, snow at last...

I've been waiting forever for snow just like this. It is great. We got a day off from school and could sit and watch the flakes flutter down. I called and asked the receptionist at Klon.M. if the entrance hill was cleared and they assured me it was so I ventured down to visit Doc. It seems they THOUGHT it was cleared but in fact it was not. as I was going up another car was coming down and it was a little scary for a minute but I made it. About 15 minutes after I came , the snow plow came and plowed.

Yesterday when we had the really serious snow it was much worse out. We had about 12 inches and I didn't think I had better risk it, so I stayed home! It was a bonus day. I got to sit and read,and read and read. My idea of peace and relaxation. I didn't have to go anywhere or do any thing. The snow was beautiful. The deck railings were a good measuring devise for me, I kept seeing the snow build up on them inch by inch. I had filled the bird feeder and could sit at the kitchen table and watch the birds eat and bicker over the perches. The Cardinals were exceptionally beautiful with their bright red feathers contrasting with the snow white snow. I had wrens, chick-e-dees, tit mouses, finches, and a variety of others. I have to keep the feeder filled because with snow this deep they can't find much food on their own.

It took Fergus awhile to brave the snow. At first he was reluctant to go off the deck. I shoveled a little path for him but he just wanted back in. Finally, he had to go off the deck but he didn't go far. He actually walked out in it today and seemed to enjoy it. He came into the house feeling very peppy. He ran and got his toy and threw it around for awhile.

I do actually love to shovel snow, but you know what? I went out and tried to clean the drive way off but I could not do it. The snow was as heavy as cement. I cleared a small path out as far as the car and puffed and panted back into the house and decided to go with the philosophy that God put it there so he can take it away. But God knew I couldn't wait for days to drive out the driveway so he sent Michele and Jeff past the house and they said," Woah, we need to do Grandma's driveway for her. " I looked out to see what Fergus was barking at and there were the two of them shoveling away. Thank God for grandkids! I am so thankful for them.

Tomorrow, we'll be back in school. My Literature class are reading an exerpt from Maya Angelou's book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". It will be a good selection to discuss.

There are 317 days left until we have a new president.

Quote for the day:"For a century and a half now , America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."
President Bush ,forgetting that whole World War 2 thing. Feburary 18, 2002

Safety Net

Remember back a number of years ago when someone tampered with a bottle of Tylenol and changed our whole way of life? Faith and security have gone down hill ever since that fateful day. All pill bottles are now so secure that it takes the strength of Samson to open them. Thousands of other items are "open proof" also. They tout them as being child proof but they force many of us to seek out a child to get them open for us. Even the items that are not potentially harmful if tampered with, are impossible to open because they are 'shrink wrapped'. I have learned to use a stitch ripper outer to get into shrink wrapped objects.

We live in fear of getting ecoli and other even more dreadful diseases from buying pre packaged vegetables, contaminated meat from abused cows, with or without MCD. We must be constantly on alert for scam artists calling our homes and we have shredders now to try our best not to have our identity stolen. We work in schools behind locked doors, with security cameras and must inform our children of the dangers lurking around every corner. Terrorists,since 9-11 are always just below the surface of our minds, the right to bear arms is out of control... it's enough to drive one crazy. I won't even get into the dangerous potential ever present on our Internets. Woe is us!

We do have to burden our children with the knowledge that there are "bad things " in our scary world and we must prepare them to deal with them.

With all that in mind, a few weeks ago one of our schools desided to have a series of drills. Might just as well get them all over with at one time. So, they informed the student body of their plans and did tell them that sometimes "bad things" can happen at school and they were going to have drills so that if they ever needed to take action against these things, they would be ready. They proceded to have a fire drill, then a tornado drill and a drill to practice what procedure they would use if an intruder ever got into the school.

That evening at home one of the students, a kindergarden student, was in the bathroom of his home with the door shut so he had to shout to be heard, said, "Ab, what was your favorite bad thing that could happen at school?"

Ab shouted back, "The intruder was my favorite!"

"The intruder was my favorite,too!" Cool.

Kids are delightful! Resilient too.


323 days till we get a new president.

Quote for today: " What I am against is quotas. I am against hard quotas, quotas they basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society."

-President Bush, possible Trekkie. January 21, 2000