I drove down to the beach Saturday - the first time I've driven that far alone in years, and the first time I've taken Rinaldo on a long drive. I confess that I was a little nervous, but I reminded myself that I used to drive long distances alone all the damn time and I would be fine. Besides, unlike in my circus days, I had a phone. I'd be able to summon help with... Read more →
Four years ago, I bought my Fiat 500, Chicolini. It's been a great little car. Oh, it had its flaws, but I accepted them because I bought it used, after all. It had the proper inspection stickers on it, so I figured all was well. They couldn't sell a car that wouldn't pass inspection, now would they? Each subsequent year, it passed inspection, sometimes needing minor repairs. But it always passed. (Cue ominous music.) In... Read more →
Last week, from Wednesday evening to Sunday evening, was pretty damned awesome, if I do say so myself. Allow me to recount it. Pat (aka SonnyeBoy) came up Wednesday afternoon - that's enough to make a weekend great. I ditched work at four o'clock and the three of us made our way to Center City Philadelphia to see Eddie Izzard at the Kimmel Center. The show was amazing. He covered evolution, the Big Bang Theory,... Read more →
Oh hi! We had, of course, the best Christmas ever. On Christmas Eve, Joe and I threw some stuff in a bag and took a cab to the train station. We're both pretty sure that the hole in the door of the cab came from a bullet; it's Philly, after all. Naturally we were two hours early, because every time we allow a lot of time for the Schuylkill Expressway to be hosed up, it's... Read more →
My Pop had his own creative names for things. For example, he had a gardening tool that he called a "hooka-hooka." This tool was simply a hoe without a blade. The hook that the blade was attached to remained. Pop realized that the hook was ideal for precise weeding around his tomatoes and beans, so a broken hoe became a valuable hooka-hooka. He didn't like being late. If you were dragging your feet and making... Read more →
Happy Labor Day! Here's a sampling of this week Sunday Stealing questions - I liked the idea of "firsts," so here you go! Who was your FIRST date? My first official date was Charlie, who went to the all-boys Catholic high school, as opposed to my all-girls Catholic high school. I was a sophomore and he was a senior. We met on a parish Teen Club trip to Hershey Park, where I hung out with... Read more →
The day after I finished chemotherapy, we threw some stuff in a bag, dropped the cats at the vet, and jumped onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Our destination? The Omni Bedford Springs Resort, where we spent our 35th wedding anniversary. This year is our 38th, so we decided to celebrate the end of chemo and our anniversary with a big old splurge. So we went back to Bedford Springs. Our room was in the historic wing,... Read more →
I've been off work for the last week; I go back to work tomorrow. Bah. Anyway, we went down to Ocean City last Sunday for the week. Of course, it was wonderful, even though I only went down to the actual beach twice. And even then, I only went down to take short walks along the water. I didn't really swim or sunbathe. But you know what? It was fine. The weather was really hot... Read more →
Joe and I celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary today! Every year since I started writing this journal/online diary/blog, I've written about our wedding in one way or another. This year, I'm going to put down the choruses to two songs that pretty much sum the past 37 years. Happy anniversary Joe! In spite of ourselves We'll end up a'sittin' on a rainbow Against all odds Honey, we're the big door prize We're gonna spite our... Read more →
And so we had Christmas! Everything on the to-do list got done. Our train ride was smooth and relaxing -- orders of magnitude better than driving down I-95. Sonnyeboy picked us up and off we went to my sister's for the family Christmas Eve extravaganza. We had a great time, as usual! Afterward, we went back to Baltimore and spent the night with SonnyeBoy. The next morning, SonnyeBoy drove us back home, where we celebrated... Read more →