Birthday Musings

Since today is my birthday, I thought I'd look way back to a much simpler time when I was growing up.

I grew up next to a baseball field (St Joe's Park). How great was that! During the summer we'd have pickup baseball games every day. The were no uniforms, no umpires, no parents, just a bunch of kids playing the game for the joy of it. I remember hitting a home run a few times. I'm a lefty and I could pull the ball down the first base line. We didn't have a set number of innings, we just played until we were tired. On every Sunday during the summer, there would be a real baseball game. There was a local league and the local team was St. Joes. There was always a good size crowd watching the games. My brother and I kept the score on an old wooden score board. For this we were paid the big sum of one dollar and all the free sodas we could drink. At times we would get distracted and would forget to put up the score until someone yelled at us. The parking lot was pretty close to the field and foul balls would often go that way. We would wait for the "thunk" that would mean that someone was going to need a new windshield. We were also part of the ground crew and we would groom the infield and line foul ball lines and batter boxes. After the game there was always a Polish picnic at the pavilion that was nearby. There would be a Polish band and good Polish food. In the fall, the pickup baseball games gave way to pickup football games. We would play tackle football with no equipment. I don't remember anyone ever getting hurt though. It was just good, clean fun. I don't see much of that anymore. Everything has to be organized and scheduled.

The field is still there and there are still baseball games but it's not the same. There are lights on the field now so most games are played at night. The crowds are nowhere near what they were when I was growing up. And there aren't anymore Polish picnics. The pavilion was torn down long ago. I still go to the field to let my dog run around. Being there brings back so many memories.

End of year update (2018)

Well, another year has come and gone. It has been a good year For Susan and I.

First, the travel.
We went to Las Vegas in February to visit Jess and Robbie. While we were there we visited Death Valley. It was an amazing trip. When you think of Death Valley you think of desert but it is much more. We started out at an elevation of over 3000 feet above sea level and ended up 282 feet below sea level. The weather was great with temperatures in the 70's. We went to one area the has sand dunes and watched people sliding down them. We also visited a ghost town which was very interesting. We revisited the Hoover dam too while we were there.

In June we went to the finger lakes in New York to a favorite place of ours, Wine Country. Susan's sister and he husband also went there to camp with friends. We tasted wines and visited many vineyards and came back with a few cases. We usually go there in the fall but it was much more relaxed in June.

We also went to Ocean Park Maine in June. We must go there at least once a year. Heather, Brian and Erica and Erin and Greg were there too. The water was a little too cold for swimming but it was nice just relaxing on the beach. We also had a lobster dinner at Shannon's house which was lots of fun.

In July we went to Yankee Stadium in New York to take in a game. We took the train which was much better than driving in. The Yankees lost but we had a good time. We also went to a couple of Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

I had my 50th high school reunion this year. It's hard to believe it's been 50 years since I graduated. There was a good turnout with over 70 classmates attending. It was nice to see people I haven't seen since high school. A good time was had by all!

Our biggest trip this year was to Ireland in September. It was a great trip! We stayed with Susan's friends near Dingle for 5 days. It was really nice there being right on the bay. We went into Dingle for a concert one night and returned the next day foe shopping. We also went to Killarney for a day. We then went to Doolin for the remainder of our trip. We stayed at a nice B and B not far from Doolin center. While there we visited the Cliffs of Moher and the Doolin Cave. The cave was about 17 floors below the surface and contains the longest free-hanging stalactite in Europe. It rained quite a bit while we were in Ireland but that's normal.

Around the house - We had a room built in our basement where Susan can do her sewing and I plan to work on transferring my many slides to a digital format. We also replaced the two outer front doors. We continue to work in the yard and battle the leaves in the fall.

I'm sure there are many other things that occurred this past year. My Mom turned 95 this year and is doing ok. She still lives at home. We got a cat (Pepper) in the spring. He seems to get along with Zoey pretty good though Zoey does chase him around the house at times. We're looking forward to the New Year and more adventures.

Late Summer musings

Well, here it is the last week Of August already. Where did the summer go? All in all it's been a pretty good summer. Here are some of the highlights:

We had a bear on our breezeway one night. Susan heard a noise so she got upto see what it was. When she looked out into the breezeway she saw a bear in the birdseed. We had forgot to close the sliding door in back and the bear just walked in. It ran out pretty fast but now before taking what was left of the birdseed.

We went to Yankee Stadium for an afternoon game. We took the train all the way in from Springfield. It was so much easier than trying to drive in. The Yankees lost but we had a good time there.

We (Susan mostly) are painting over the paneling in the breezeway. It was a dark brown and now it's a light blue. It really brightens up the area.

Erin and Greg bought a new house in Belchertown. It's like a A frame and has three bedrooms and 3 decks. It sits on an acre and half of land. They both like it very much. There's a little work to be done but nothing major. Heather bought a new house too in Palmer. She and Theresa moved in July. It's an older house but it was recently redone so there's not much to fix up.

We're looking forward to going to Ireland. We'll be there for 10 days which will give us enough time to explore new places and also revisit some of out favorites.

Summer 2018 update

So far summer (my favorite season) has been pretty good. It started out a little cool in June but it has warmed up nicely since. There has even been a couple of heat waves with temperatures in the high 90's. The gypsy moth infestation wasn't as bad around our house this year with the trees keeping most of their leaves. Other areas were hit pretty bad though. There seems to be quite a few eggs on our trees so we'll have to deal with them. A bear visited our back yard in June but we haven't seen it since.

We've been to a few baseball games this summer. We have seen the Hartford Yard Goats twice and the Red S0x twice too. We're going to see a Yankee game in August which we're both looking forward to. The Yankees are Susan's favorite team. We went to Maine for a few days in June. The weather was nice but the water was too cold to go swimming. All of my kids were there too which made it nice.

We've been a little work around the house. We had a room built in the basement which will be Susan's sewing and crafts room and my photography room. I have 15 trays of slides I want to convert to digital. We also started painting the breezeway. It has old, dark paneling the will look better with a lighter color.

We got a kitten (Pepper) this month. It will keep Zoey company when we're out. They seem to be getting along pretty good so far. Zoey does chase him around at times but it's just playing.

Summer is going by way too fast. It's already the last week of August. I'm not working my one day a week anymore but I said I'm available if needed.

Drug Ads

This is a post about drugs.No, not recreational drugs but prescription drug advertising. Watching television you can't get away from drug ads continuously being aired. It always starts out wit "Ask your doctor if our drug will help you". I wonder if doctors get tired of being asked for a specific drug. Maybe no, since they may get "free" samples etc. And now every condition has to have an acronym. COPD,AMD, FMS, IBS, just to name a few of the hundreds. Then the ad goes on to say how their drug will help that condition. "Take our drug and you can roll up your sleeves or wear a bathing suit again". "Take our drug and you can read a book to your grandchild without getting out of breath!" Then there are the side affects. Taking this drug may cause a wide range of side affects even death! and don't take it if you are allergic to it. How are you supposed to know that if you never took it? Now I'm starting to see "ASK your Vet" ads.
Ugh! There's no end to them. I believe we're one of the only countries that allow drug adds on tv. I'm sure that won't change any time soon. There's too much money involved.

More catching up

I should post here more often. Here's some of the things that have been going on.

We continue to travel. In August we went to Boulder Co. for my nephew's wedding. We stayed for a week visiting Rocky Mountain National Park and other areas while we were there. My kids were also there for the wedding which made it a nice family vacation. Boulder is such a great city.

We also went to the finger lakes in New York last fall for our annual wine tasting weekend. It was a great time visiting many wineries and buying about 4 cases of wine. We always stay at a wonderful bed and breakfast that has a nice view of lake Seneca. We should have enough wine to last us until summer!

Health wise it's was eventful year. In August I found out I had a large gallstone so my gallbladder had to be taken out. That went well and I'm now pain free. I also was diagnosed with skin cancer on my nose and forehead so I had to get that taken care of too. I'm going to make sure I always wear sunscreen now!

We're starting to work on the basement this winter getting the walls painted. Eventually we want a couple rooms framed in. We also had a few trees taken down in the fall and several stumps ground up. There's always something to do. We'd like to get a deck built this spring.

Ocean park Maine

I've been going to Ocean Park, Maine for over 30 years. It has long been our family's summer vacation destination since Heather was around 2 years old. It has a small town charm with a ice cream shop, a grocery store and of course a wonderful beach. This year's visit was different though. Heather, Brian, Erin and Theresa rented a place just a block from the beach and Susan and I stayed with my sister Shannon for a few days. The first day Heather was there she went for a walk on the beach and found a sand dollar. We used to find them all of the time but in the last few years we hardly ever found any. Heather posted a picture of it on facebook along with a story. It's been almost a year since the kid's mother Bev died. Heather felt that finding a sand dollar on her first day at the beach was like a signal from Bev that she was there. Heather brought Bev's ashes to Maine so that some of them could be left in the ocean. So on Tuesday night we all went down to the beach with Heather carrying Bev's urn in her backpack. It was low tide and we went out to a sandbar to sprinkle some of the ashes in the surf. As soon as we got there, Erin saw an edge of s sand dollar sticking out of the sand. Thinking it was just a piece of one, she picked it up and found out it was a whole sand dollar. Another sign? Maybe. We all took turns spreading some of the ashes in the sand and the surf. We then stood around remembering stories of Bev and Maine. After that, Heather said it would be fitting to go to the ice cream parlor for an ice cream. While we were there, Heather got a lime ricci, which was always Bev's favorite and put it on the table where we were all sitting. It was just like she was there with us, The rest of our time at Ocean Park was very relaxing. Susan and I spent time just sitting on the beach watching the waves come in. I could do that every day! Wednesday night we had a Maine clambake with steamers, lobsters and corn at Shannon's place. It was a fun night with much laughter and good food. I hope we can continue this tradition for many years to come.