My Opera Singing Nephew

Last week, we (#2 son, niece from HongKong, MIL) drove to Cincinnati to hear my nephew's Master recital...part of his receiving his Masters degree in Music.....this is a photo of him and his piano player. I wish I knew how to video and put it in my blog because I have been to some wonderful performance's this year with just people I know! Dan sang beautifully and we all enjoyed it immensely! He is such a great nephew.....and talented....even if I am his aunt!! My husband and I have been truly blessed with nieces and nephews -on both sides-!!! We are very fortunate.

Happy 32nd Anniversary!

It's a sign of our love and devotion that we have stayed married for 32 years!....or we are just too damn stubborn to give up....but then...why give up on a good thing?
Actually, I was one of the lucky ones and was able to marry the love of my life.
Happy Anniversary to my hubby!(We haven't changed much have we?!!
But when someone said you don't marry his family............
let me be the first to assure you that you would be wrong!

ABC Wednesday T is for Teddy

Teddy, my great nephew, just turned one. My sister, his grandmother, made this flag for him. His mommy took him out to see it and doesn't it look like he loves it? Stop by Mrs. Nesbitt's place to see other participants today.

Another Wedding Shower

We have been blessed with many nieces and nephews. Another niece-who is also a god daughter- is getting married this summer in Montreal. She and her fiance were the recipients of a surprise wedding shower at the club (not mine!). A very small but lovely affair. Here they are opening their presents. .....and-- I got to see every single one of them. (Placemats, candle holder, very nice cutting board, lovely,very sharp knives, pizza slicer, garlic press-with the admonishment to not use your fingers as the blade is very sharp!!!-waterford crystal, waffle iron.... just to name a few)...not sure what the protocol really is but it certainly was lovely watching them open their gifts.

ABC Wednesday S is for Santa's

I have decided to stick with the Santa theme for ABC Wednesday. Drop over to Mrs. Nesbitt's place to see what others have come up with.

Driving School

*sigh*
I had to spend 4 hours in driving safety school this week. Why- you might ask? Well, according to the policeman who pulled me over, I went through a red light (I assured him it was yellow). The comment he made was "you can either admit your guilt ($65 and goes on your insurance record), go to traffic school ($115 no black mark on your record) or go to court and plead "not guilty" (and hope the judge agrees with you...otherwise...you incur court costs....over $130.)

The police officer assured me that he would be at court and "lady, you can tell them it was yellow and I am going to tell him it was red and who do you think he will believe?"

"you, apparently", was my answer.

(For all you that know me....I REALLY don't argue with policemen since my dad was one so if you think this was out of character for me....you'd be right.)
Hence, my afternoon in traffic school.
I won't bore you with how the whole four hours went but this is how it started.....
"I know you don't want to be here" says the instructor, " I am only here because they pay me but we are going to spend 4 hours together. Think of the worst thing you have ever done while driving a vehicle and consider yourself caught and now we are going to break into groups and have a fun afternoon."

Thank heavens he had a sense of humor, huh?

So, 40 of us spent 4 hours together bonding over the driving booklet that we had to finish and yes, we did break into groups, yes, we did read out loud, yes, we did answer all the questions and no, I will not be getting a ticket again anywhere in the near future or so I hope!

ABC Wednesday R is for Restroom

When we were at Shannon's graduation, we took her out for breakfast. The woman's restroom got a big thumbs up for cleanliness and creativity!It is the pink and even the men's looked fabulous-it is the black with all the photos of the Eiffel Tower. Enjoy as many of the ABC participants as you can over at Mrs. Nesbitt's!

A fund raising evening

The Most Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, President Chicago Legal clinic (A family friend I might add)


We went to a fund raiser on Friday night for a legal clinic that does pro bono work. All I can say is, good thing Eric was paying attention or they would be out $100.

A college graduation

We had a college graduation from the University of Illinois this weekend...yesterday to be exact....Ms. Shannon graduated with honors as well as earning the James Scholar Award-an honors program award you need to be invited to do with a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and you have to complete certain requirements each year ...31 of her fellow College of Aces graduates also earned this award--it is the medal on the orange and blue ribbon-.....Here are a few pictures of the event.
Here is our little hugger -Tina- notice your bracelet on her wrist!(you will need to click on the photo to see it!)-



The Happy Parents!

a brother patiently waiting to go and eat SOMETHING

ABC Wednesday P is for Pool and Presents

I am so glad I took a picture of the beautiful pool and presents when I was at my nephew's engagement party a few weeks ago! Make sure you stop and see as many participants as you can over at Mrs. Nesbitt's place!

my Lightning Tree-as in "Struck by"

Getting struck by lightning or getting eaten by the Emerald Ash borer.....either way, this tree is not long for this world....and too bad as I really like it. In the last picture, notice the dirt blown out on either side of the tree....it exited on both sides......

ABC Wednesday O is for Orchestra

My Korean(actually she was my foreign exchange student but I call her my 2nd daughter!) daughter's orchestra recital at Roosevelt University with the choir.
Please stop in at Mrs. Nesbitt's place and see all the ABC Participants.

@#$*%^*Word Verification

I am shamelessly stealing this from Tom over at Wigger's Place.
I HATE this feature. Please, enable your blogger moderator if you are getting spammed..this is soooo annoying when it takes 3 or 4 times to type in the word....or whatever it is. Thanks!

A beautiful cake

In all the excitement of the nephews and great nephew, I would be remiss in not stating that I am absolutely thrilled that Michal has invited Courtney to be part of our family. She is a stunning, charming, intelligent young lady and I adore her.....I only hope she knows what she is letting herself in for! Welcome Miss Courtney!
This is the cake that Courtney's sister made for the engagement party. Her sister is a chef but still....what a cake it was.....I was impressed when she told me she used 32 eggs......yum!

Getting to know you

Teddy wasn't too sure about his FAVORITE GREAT aunt (who is this woman that keeps kissing me???) but once he was down and cruising he was a happy boy!

Another Name TAG!

Another Nametag I could have used for ABC Wednesday....except we didn't have it at the end of the day!

ABC Wednesday N is for Nametags

Thanks to Jessy and Jeffers for suggesting the name tags from the engagement party...The explanations for the abbreviations....
FAOG.Favorite Aunt of Groom...
GOG....grandma of groom....
LOG ...Landlord of groom and bride....(and boyfriend of GOG)
Hope you have a chance to visit over at Mrs. Nesbitts place for all the ABC participants.

A trio of women

Michal, my nephew, was quite concerned that feelings would be hurt with my description of who was at his engagement party....as in MY name tag read "FAOG"...translation.....FAVORITE Aunt of Groom.....and he was/is afraid that his other aunts...of which he has a few....might get their noses out of joint....well, here is the answer to that....if they came, they could put whatever they wanted on their name tag....as I was your only aunt that came....I chose that moniker! ...besides ...how else will Teddy learn how to say my FAVORITE GREAT aunt unless his uncle Michal practices it???!!!
This is me, my mom and my younger sister, Tina....mother of the groom!

A Manassas Engagement party

Here is the only picture I have of the groom and bride to be....I am falling down on the photo job!

The others that are here ----Bill-my mother's significant other or boyfriend or gentleman friend...(really, Mom, you need to decide what we should say!!!!); my mom, Avis; my BIL and father of the groom -Tom; my sister-Tina; my nephew --the groom, Michal...(without an "E"); his fiance, Courtney; my great nephew(baby) Teddy and his parents, Becky and Tommy (my oldest nephew). I am in the back row with my younger nephew, Jeffrey and his girlfriend, Jessy.....A lovely day was had by all.....but about those presents I didn't get to see you open, Michal and Courtney.........

Peter Olson in Paris

This is from one of my favorite bloggers....the music is done by a friend of his and I really liked it. Hope you do too!

You tube credits

Azer Mantessa is the musician of the above song and Peter Olson is the photographer, I couldn't get it in that post!

ABC Wednesday M

If you know me well, you know I am not a big fan of chocolate.....but I AM a big fan of M&M's...peanut preferably. This is my chocolate fix.....and mostly it is all about the nut for me! Stop by Mrs. Nesbitt's to see who and what is up for ABC Wed!

Chicago College of Performing Arts

My Korean "daughter" had her concert last night with the student orchestra. They played Beethoven's Fantasia in C Major and Beethoven's Symphony NO. 9 in D Minor. I am not sophisticated enough to be able to put it in blogger but it was really nice. The auditorium is lovely. The singers on the stage are actually faculty members performing. My only problem with the performance was the audience.
I KNOW it is for the family's of the students so little kids get to come..I applaud that. What annoyed me was the request by the President and CEO (also he is the Chair and Master of Ceremonies) to HOLD your applause until the end of the movement(there were four) and after every little pause, some yo-hoe would start to applaud. 2 things I have to complain about....you were asked to HOLD your applause and when you don't...you are annoying!.....if even this little girl from West Virginia can have some class...so can you...and more importantly, you slow the whole process down and I MISS MY TRAIN because you were an idiot and delay the performance....that annoys me. Here is a big heads up for you non-symphony goers......you can applaud ONLY when the conductor turns around and smiles and waves his/her hand over the orchestra and the ORCHESTRA stands up.
'nuff said.

A Junior recital

 
SeaKyung is my Korean "daughter" and she had her college junior recital last Monday. Eric, Kathleen, her mom(came just for this from Korea), my friend Ann and I went to hear her. She played lovely....

Happy Birthday, Kathleen!

Kathleen,with Clara helping her, blow out her birthday candles-- after Uncle Charley helped Clara carry it in!

Why English is so hard

I will be curious to see if anyone needs a translation or clarification on these!
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it
was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Kathleen, Erik and Eric!! We celebrated 3 birthdays on Sunday and today is a golden birthday for Eric...


he is 25 on the 25th. Happy Birthday, Eric!
He is holding his cousin who is visiting from New York.

Two Shannon's

When our daughter was born, no one knew how hard it would be to find a name for this new little girl. Had she been a boy(which is what I was expecting to have-remember-this was in the day when you still GUESSED at what you were having) she would have been Mark Phillip.....but no....she was a girl. The nurse had a hissy fit that we couldn't/wouldn't name her right away and the hubby and I struggled to find a name that fit this precious bundle. We finally settled on "Shannon" and all was right with the world.....until she found out-at the age of 7 or something- that "Shannon" is a boys' name in Ireland. Oh!! the wailing and gnashing of teeth and she decided right there that she would be "Monique"....which lasted not as long as one would think! As time went by, we heard different remarks -from her- about her name..."What, were you on DRUGS or something when you named me?" "How could you pick a name that has so many "N"s in it?" (with her middle name and last name she does have a copious amount of "n"s--6 to be exact)--"Why didn't you name me after a relative?"__(Okay --some female names in my family......"OTA", "LOTA","LETHA", "LENORE", "BESSIE", "AVIS","AVEN"---do you see what I had to work with?!!) AND, I was working with a hubby who had decided that one weird name in the family (mine) was enough---I know I know....I married him in spite of all prejudice's!!! So , Shannon eventually came to terms with her name and has settled into it. Over the weekend, she met-for the first time- a guy named Shannon and here they are. They really had a fun time with their names. Shannon, the guy, was amazed that we had chosen to go with the "river theme" for our girls' names in our family. (The Neva being a river in Russia and The Shannon being a river in Ireland) I didn't have the heart to tell him he was wrong!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all of you! This is a house that decorates for each season. I drove by this today and remembered that they go all out. It seemed appropriate for today!And don't you love the snow?

Something fun

Sometimes I just find things that are good or funny and I thought this was both.

Girlfriends and family

Sometimes you are just fortunate enough in life to be blessed with good friends who just happen to be family! Olivia is married to my brotherinlaw(she is in black) and Kathleen is my husband's sister. Olivia and Mike were in from Hong Kong and we met downtown (Chicago) for dinner.....we had a GREAT time.....

Where are my pants!?

We were in San Francisco last week for a few days. Hubby had a medical meeting and #2 son and I went out to meet him on Thursday. We played the tourist to the hilt....took a bus tour all around San Francisco. Saw Lombard street, the street cars, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park, the Golden Gate Bridge and in the afternoon went to see the redwood forest.....Sequoia's ...not the Giant ones but the medium sized ones....they were awesome.
We went to the zoo on Saturday and I met up with a fellow blogger (hi Karen!) and we had a great visit all day at the zoo. #2 son and I joined her and some of her photographer friends and spent the day taking photos at the zoo. Lots of fun and I really enjoyed meeting someone I have communicated with weekly via our photos.
We had dinner with a cousin (hi Brian!) and went to China Town for dinner. Took the tour to Alcatraz....we REALLY enjoyed that. All I ever knew about Alcatraz I knew from the movies. In person, it was scarier and old and run down, but still, we enjoyed the tour immensely.
We stayed at a small hotel (8 stories high)that was under renovation. All 3 of us were in one tiny room with a rollaway for #2 son, a queen size bed for us, one TINY bathroom and one decent sized closet. So, picture this....ON Sunday morning at 4:30 AM the fire alarm goes off. A voice comes over the loud speaker and says "this is not a drill. A fire has been reported. Please evacuate the building immediately. Do NOT use the elevator". Well.....wow......
Let me tell you that the first thing I thought of was "where are my pants?" because if you thought I was going out side in my nightgown....think again! I threw open the closet door, pitched hubby and son their pants and shoes...all the while looking for mine..the fire alarm is shrieking in our ears and then we scoot out the door ...making sure we have a key to get back in.
After the 7 flights down the emergency fire staircase..which was about as narrow and steep as any stairs I have EVER been on....AND when we got to the 2nd floor (we started on the 7th)...there was a sign that said that using the main staircase might be more comfortable.
WHHAATT???? more comfortable than... a fire? a heartattack?
We get outside with all the other patrons in various states of dress and watch while 2 San Francisco fire trucks pull up. A few firemen rush into the building and shoo all the people out of the lobby. Another few pull out a ladder and extend it to the metal fire escape on the outside,
Now we are standing here watching the firemen attach the ladder to the fire escape.
The people next to us were from England and wanted to know "does this happen often?"
and "I wanted a wake up call but this is a little much!"
The young couple on the other side whipped out their phones and this is what I heard,"Well, the honeymoon from hell continues. We are standing outside because our hotel might possibly be on fire".
Ok....my first thought--"who do you call at 4:30 AM in the morning to say this too?" my second thought---"what the heck else has happened to make this the honeymoon from hell?' Under other circumstances, I would've asked but I was then distracted by the firemen when they started going up the ladder to the fire escape. What distracted me was.....they were using a WOODEN LADDER-- on a building supposedly on FIRE.
Was it just me or do you think that is odd? San Francisco has had a few fires over the years. Somehow this did not strike me as a safe use of a wooden ladder. The good news was....it WAS a false alarm and we were allowed back in the building.
And me with out my camera (gasp!) or my purse (double gasp!) Because all I could think of when the alarm went off was....
"Where are my pants?"
It was a great way to start the day!

ABC Wednesday G is for Glass

These are some more pieces of Blenko glass. These were a Christmas present from my mom's gentleman caller (boyfriend!) when they were here for Christmas. They are water pitchers and I love to use them. Thought I would give you all something to look at besides my rants!

Good Friends are hard to find...or not!

Flo is my 92 year old friend. Not only is she my friend, she has been my bridge partner and she is my neighbor. Her daughter and I are VERY good friends. She has recently been in a Senior living community while she fights off an infection. She has been here a few weeks and I have had lunch with her almost everyday. Today, the staff gave her and another resident a mini party as they both are going home this week. It was really sweet. She was so happy that they thought of her. I was glad to be there to celebrate with her. Here are some photos of the celebration.

To ponder something else.....

I know my family had a lot to say about my last blog entry here. Obviously they know me very well and the title to my blog could not be more accurate if I tried. One of my girlfriends refers to me as the best "truth before tact" person she knows. This is mostly true...and I say mostly because I am not really out to hurt anyone's feelings on purpose. I go out of my way to help others. I have a revolving door for those that need a place to stay ( I have had Germans, Koreans and Colombians live with me)....I live my life in a way that involves no need for me to be embarrassed about how I live. I will go and sit with you in a nursing home or hospital, I will take you to the grocery store...I might not remember your birthday but I am always willing to help out. I am clean and neat. I am a control freak. I like to get along with people..I would just as soon smile at you as to not. I love to talk to anyone.
Having said all this.....apparently I have annoyed, unintentionally, my neighborhood neighbors. Many are upset that I have chosen to blog about the town I live in and have asked me to cease and desist.....at least of taking pictures of the neighborhood. It begs the question...why? and if you live in such a lovely community do you expect no one to drive through the neighborhood and admire your gorgeous homes? Do you really think I am setting you up for robbery's?(yes, apparently) Have you heard of google earth?
I am not quite sure how to respond. I have edited a few of my blogs in order to be a good neighbor but I feel that smacks of censorship and I am not very willing to do too much of that. I blog freely. I make no claims to honesty or truth...I write to amuse my self. Stories I write are mine and mine alone. I am not derogatory nor am I doing anything illegal. I follow the The Blog code of conduct. I love my daily photo blog and will continue to blog and photo what I find interesting about my town. I am proud of where I live and choose to share it with my family and friends that can't come to see me or my town. I will consider your comments....but that by no means gives you the right to tell me what I can or can not blog.I have never blogged private information. I appreciate your concern but I am a pretty nice person...I am a good neighbor...regardless of my long standing desire to not be part of the Homeowners Association. (I had no idea that-after 23 years of living here- in order to be a good neighbor I had to be a member of a strictly voluntary/social organization and then have to listen to the whining about no 100% participation.)
So, stop by for a visit and enjoy what I enjoy about where I live.

A question to ponder

I can't decide if I am more pissed at a person I don't know from a cake of soap who has tried....repeatedly this week....to tell me how to do my job....or if I am pissed at the person I know well who doesn't see how this could possible piss me off. It really begs the question.....Do you really WANT to piss me off and/or how well do you really know me?

A moment of silence

Northern Illinois University is the closest State University to Inverness. Not more than an hour or so away. My neighbor's son attends this school (he is fine, thanks).
I can't imagine the horror of the parents who received phone calls yesterday that their child had been killed by a crazed shooter on their student's university campus while attending class. My sorrow knows no bounds. Please keep these families in your prayers.

New Vernacular

I went with a good friend of mine to check out a place for her elderly mom to stay while she takes a short vacation with her husband. I am of the era that we called them nursing homes, facilities or home for the aged....and maybe other names I can't remember!
Imagine my surprise when we were told the "F" word (facility)is an ugly word and not to be used! New vernacular ......we call them communities....we start with Independent living, Independent living with some care, assisted living, Memory unit(for Alzheimer's patients.) There is also skilled care nursing for rehabilitation from strokes or surgery. And what a community. For respite care....it is kind of a trial to see if all parties are happy and the client is placed in the correct community--minimum 2 week stay... Lovely place. Not that expensive.....considering....and so many activities to do.
When I need a community, I sure hope I can find one as clean and beautiful and well thought as this one was.

Happy Birthday cake

This is the cake my Scholastic Bowl kids got me for my birthday on Thursday. We all certainly enjoyed it!