More October & Other Stuff

Well here we are, the PSC gals on 10-10-10. Jeannie, Bev, me and Sherry. I really look forward to us getting together. It's good to catch up but you know what the best thing is? It's like we've never been apart. We have known each other since I was 17 and they were 18 and when you're talking about 36 years of friendship, that's pretty cool. Jeannie sent me a nice picture she had taken of my mother and me and I love it!

Over on the right is a picture of more family. My Aunt Rosemary (in the middle) with my cousins Sarabeth (left) and Laura (right). Their brother Bob doesn't like to have his picture taken. So typical of people in our family! And their sister Jennifer wasn't able to be at the birthday party at Sarabeth's house. Anyway, thought I would share this since it's been a long time since I've gotten a picture of them together.

As always the foliage was beautiful. Every year I go visit the graves of my grandparents, dad and cousin Ralph. Ralph was one of the sweetest men I've ever known. A very religious man who, as far back as I can remember was stooped over and had white hair. I can still picture him, probably 45 years later, sitting in the pew at church and praying. And his smile. So I take foliage pictures at the Berwick Cemetary where my mom's side of the family, including cousin Ralph, are buried. There is a little building there that's a water house where they have main control of the water. This is the building. It's right across the lane from where my grandparents are buried and across another side is where cousin Ralph lies in rest. You would think it is a sad place to visit but it brings me good memories and reminds me that I come from good people.

Like the PSC gals who have known me so long, and Lynn, my ex-sister-in-law who really isn't an ex anything except where it concerns being married to my brother, and my cousins and my mom and my brother. I am reminded that I come from a place where family values count. Where friendship matters. Honesty. Commitment. Devotion. Generosity. I come from a solid background. And I hope I have been able to pass that along to my children and hopefully someday Matt will have it.

Vacation in October always reminds me of where I come from and how I go to where I am. It is fulfilling for my soul. No wonder I love October vacation!

And now to explain something else. OK, we all know I'm odd. I love my house. I am so happy here! And sometimes I cannot stop myself. I will stop just in the doorway from the diningroom to the kitchen and hug my house and tell it how much I love being here. Because I do. I explained it to my friend Alma. I remember how the deadbolt lock works in my door this way:

When I leave in the morning, it turns left because I have left the happy place.

When I arrive home at night, it turns right because all is right in my world again.

This is how happy I am at my house. Yes, I'd be happier if I could get the repairs done and re-finance to a 30 year loan so I wouldn't have to worry. But still, I love being here. I'm going to keep trying to find someone to help do repairs. I am not sure it will happen as soon as I'd like but come next spring I must do a big push. I am not sure why people say they are interested then change their minds. I think maybe because it's not all that profitable. Who knows. But I am happy here. And will be happier if I can get everything done so there is no threat of losing my happy place.

The pictures of Den, mom and me are blurry so no post. But here's a picture of Den in my back yard when he was here for a couple of days. He's standing where the doghouse used to be but is now gone thanks to Den.

So now that I have been busy for over an hour posting to both blogs I am going to sign off. Usually I don't have this much to say or pictures to post. But who knows what the future holds?

Andrew and My October Vacation

Here's Andrew wearing the brown hat I crocheted for him (mentioned in my Crafty Rantings blog). He's such a smart and sweet boy! I love being able to spend time with him. He lives 3500 miles away but I spend more time each year with him than with Matt who lives 12 hours south of me. Just the way it is.

Andrew was a little mixed up when they told him Aunt Lynn was coming to visit. He knew Grampy had gone to see her and was coming back with her to Great Grammy's house. He thought I was Grampy's Aunt Lynn. They explained to him that no, I was Grampy's sister and HIS Aunt Lynn. He got that. Then when they asked him if he knew where Aunt Lynn lived he most certainly did! Here's a little background on how this particular sweet thing happened.

Andrew's Grammy Punkin' is my brother's ex-wife. She lives in a beautiful country home (thank you for lunch!). She has goats and cats and a little dog named Fiona. Here's a picture of Lynn with Fiona in her country kitchen.

So Andrew, when asked where Aunt Lynn lives, responded that he did! She lives in Cali-fiona!

I had such a wonderful vacation! I got to see college friends and foliage (see next post), go to the Basketball Hall of Fame, spend time with Andrew, Lynn (who is one of my oldest friends and so much like a sister!), my mom and other relatives. But it was tiring and things were busy when I got home. But I honestly love my two week October vacation. I look forward to it all year long!

So I haven't blogged much but I've been happy. And I'll talk more about that in another post.

Promised Pictures

One thing I so desperately wanted to do this year was go to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. My wonderful twin brother Den agreed. We drove down on Wednesday night, stayed at a hotel and then went to the BHOF the next day. The picture on the right is Den wearing his Bird shirt (which I bought him for our birthday last year when we attended the Celtics game at the TD Garden!). I wore a green t-shirt with "Rondo 9" on it. Anyway I took a ton of pictures and rather than put them all up, thought these two were the good ones to post. The picture on the left is what it looked like when we left the building. There was a clown (shudder) and 3 elephants promoting a circus. Cool! Elephants at the BHOF!

Because I have a lot of pictures to post I will do a few entries so look for the next udpate.