Christmas 2014

Christmas day 2014 started out like others in the past. Susan and I got up at a reasonable time, had breakfast and opened each others gifts. Then after noon we went to my sister's house where the rest of the family had gathered. My Mom and dad rode with us. Everyone had a great time. There was plenty of food and the adult beverages were flowing freely. My mom and day enjoyed themselves with all of their children and grandchildren there. We stayed until about 4:30 pm when my mom said they were ready to go home. My om is 91 and my dad is 92 so they tired easily. I drove them home and go out of the car to unlock the door to the house. My dad started getting out of the car also. He has had trouble walking and with his balance but he has got out of my car previously with no problems. I was almost to the door when a big gust of wind came up almost knocking me over. Well, it did knock my dad over and I turned to see him lying on the sidewalk. He was in quite a bit of pain so we thought it was best to call the ambulance to bring him to the hospital to get checked out. After spending 3 hours there and my dad getting x-rays, it was determined he had a broken hip. It's amazing how his life and my family's life was changed from that moment. He was transferred to a larger hospital where he would need an operation on his hip.

Words

There are several words or phrases I have come to dislike. The following is the start of my list:

1. Closure - This isn't new but it's one that I really dislike. What is "closure" anyway? It's usually used in either a crime or death of a loved one. Yes, Mr Smith, we found your daughter's body. We now know what happened to her. You now have closure. Closure? His daughter is still dead. Closure won't bring her back.

2. First responders - This is fairly new. It used to be when there was an accident or a fire or some other event, firemen, police, ambulance personnel etc would be there to help out. But now it's the "first responders". Do we know who they are? It could be a bunch of circus clowns but they're the "first responders".

3. Tweet - This is something just the birds used to do. Now, you're no one unless you "tweet" your every move. There are dozen of followers that are just waiting to see what you had for lunch.

4. Baby Bump - Women don't get pregnant anymore, they get a "baby bump". Especially if you're a celebrity. Ugh!
 

This is just the start. More will be added soon. Add a comment if you have any "un-favorite" words.

Father's day

Fatherhood - One of my best memories of being a father was reading my kids a bedtime story. It was the best way to end the day, laying on the bed and reading them one of their favorite books. Heather had many but the one I remember the most was the story of "Daddy are we lost?". She loved to hear that over and over. Brian had many favorites too. I read "Green eggs and ham" so many times I could recite it without looking at the words. And Erin was the last one I was able to read to at night. She had many favorites too. It was sad when they were all too "grown up" to get a bedtime story but I'll cherish those memories forever.

True story

This will be a short post but it's a true story. It really happened to me.

I was at work one day and it was lunch time. I decided I wanted some chips to go with my usual sandwich. So I went down to the vending machine, put in a dollar, and made my selection. My chips came down and then to my surprise change started coming out of the machine too. One dollar, two dollars... When it stopped, I counted over two dollars in change. Then I realized what has happened.
 "I got money for nothing and chips for free!"

Goodbye 2013

Well, another year has come to a close. And what did we  learn in 2013? We all learned what "twerking" is. Thank you Miley Cyrus. We learned how to "Harlem Shake". And we all know what the fox says. We also learned that congress can't agree on anything but is great on doing nothing. Yes, it was quite a year. The NSA is probably reading this right now along with listening to all of our phone calls. The weather was pretty bad this past year with blizzards, twisters, floods, heat waves and everything else.

More to come....

Summer

Well, another summer has come and gone. It was a fairly good summer. There were a couple of heat waves with many sunny days. I'm not ready to let it go yet though. I still wear shorts almost every day along with short sleeved shirts. And I refuse to wear a jacket unless it's below 40 degrees. I know that it's just a matter of time before I have to bring out the warmer clothes but I'm holding on as long as I can.

Summer has always been special to me. Growing up I'd walk through the woods to the cove on the Ware River where I'd fish for hours at a time. Usually it was just me and my dog Oakey. It was a great place to just get away and reflect on things.

Summer was also a time for baseball. We'd have pickup games at St. Joe's Park almost every day. We didn't belong to a league, there weren't any fans but it was always a fun time. We'd play until we were tired or it was time for dinner.

The ocean has always been a favorite place of mine in the summer. Growing up, going to the beach is the only vacation I can remember. We'd pile in the car early in the morning and head off to Misquamicutbeach in RI. Usually it was my dad and brother. At least that's what I remember. I loved it there! The waves seemed a lot bigger then and I can remember getting tossed around like a wet rag coming up with a mouthful of salt water. Then about 4pm, we'd pack up and head home. It wasn't a fancy vacation at some exotic place but it was always the best.

As I got older, I went to Hampton Beach in NH with my friends. Those were good times! Two of us would get a motel room and the rest would sneak in later. I can remember many days and nights there just laying on the beach or walking around at night.

Later in my 20's I started going to Ocean Park Maine. The first time I went there just about the whole family stayed in one cottage. I don't know how we all fit. There were may mom and dad, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands and Heather, who was 2 at the time. That started a tradition that still goes on. I have to make a trip to Ocean Park at least one time each summer.

So, I say goodby to summer and know that it's just 9 months away to another.

trains

I recently took the train to New York. I admit it was much slower than flying but that was the only thing I missed. To start, we ware able to buy our tickets right at the train station, no searching online for the best deal, no buying tickets months in advance. We just drove to the train station and purchased our tickets right from a vending machine. We didn't have to buy a ticket for a specific date. We just picked our destination and chose a round trip ticket. We didn't have to say when we were returning either. After that, we just waked down to the track where our train would come in. There was no security to go through and we didn't have to take off our shoes! Also, there was no charge for our bags. Once we got on the train we could pick any empty seat we wanted and we could even change seats if desired too. There was much more legroom than a plane and we were able to sit on a "three seat" side and stretch out with no one in the middle seat. As I stated earlier, it was much slower than flying but the experience was so much better. Next time I go to New York, I'll take the train again.