Day 731: Two years of blogging!

Time for serious reflection, or not.  I've trended away from serious blog writing this year and directed my productive energies into my book.  Even the photos are of poorer quality.  But, I intend to go on for a while longer so I can hold myself accountable each day for writing and reporting on my book progress.

As I look back, it's been a challenging year.  We worry about our son and will continue to until he gets a new job.  My dear sister is facing life without her beloved husband of thirty years and I worry about her every day.

But this has also been a year of blessings, too.  Our family pulled together to support Nancy and Glenn.  We were reunited in Kentucky and again in Columbus.  We hosted a wonderful reunion in July for the Menzies cousins.  Eighteen attended the excursion to Sky High Adventures!  Then, Rick and Lisa hosted the O'Donnell cousin reunion in November.

We're in good health, have loving, supportive friends, a comfortable home and completed an amazing cruise through the Baltics in September.  We have lots of travel planned for the future including a trip to NYC in February, to Scotland in May or early June, a trip to Kentucky and Tennessee in April and a tour along the Mississippi in the fall.  Wow!  We are so lucky!

Our backpacking program is thriving and expanding!  The musical will be underway very soon.   Both provide us with purpose and great joy!  So, we have much to be grateful for.  Now, just one more thing, please.  A job for our son.

Day 730: Return to the book!

I did a full assessment of the status of the book and was very pleased with the outlook.  I've completed 170 pages in 17 chapters.  Five chapters remain: Organizing Quest personnel; Classes; Logistics and scheduling; Games, songs and activities; and homecoming and Quest's impact.  Today, I returned to the chapter on organizing tent, cook and hike groups since it's the closest to being done.  Tomorrow, I will finish up the portion on the adult and student leader orientation meetings and check that chapter off my list.

Last night, I spent time researching publishing possibilities by reviewing books of the same type that are available on Amazon.  There are a couple common publishing companies that work with authors of outdoor education books.  That may be where I start.

We also got a new cabinet today for the entry way.  After looking at thousands online and in stores, I went with a cherry colored media cabinet with drawers.  It's not exactly what I wanted, but it's real wood, not a composite, the price was right and it was close by at Big Lots.  Although there were cabinets I liked better online, the difficulties of questionable quality, putting them together, and cost pushed me to compromise a bit.  Now it needs two fabric baskets to hold our hats and gloves.

Day 729: Valerie

We arrived at the train station fifteen minutes early, but there was the train pulling into the station!  Colin and April made a mad dash to collect their bags, get their tickets and board the train.  No time for a hug goodbye.  We are so thankful to have the time together.  They got to see all of their friends, most of April's family, their cousins and us!

I am so grateful for my writer's group, Penelope.  This morning we spent an hour critiquing and revising the second chapter of my book called "The Outdoor Classroom".  They offered such helpful comments and insights.  Tomorrow, I will begin the final push to complete the book in the next two months.  I'm a month or two behind schedule, but a few more months after four years of work hardly matter at all.

We spent the next half hour on a pair of poems by Sarah about her daily commute to Jamestown.  One focused on the  creeping fog and the other on slushy snow.  She captures the elements perfectly.

Finally, we turned to Valerie's most recent project, a stunning series of art pieces representing the history of the treatment of children.

Day 728: The sun on my face

We woke to sunshine and embraced it with a long walk, the first in weeks.  Peaceful, warm and sunny, the day opened with possibilities.  Sun glimmered on the water of Canadaway Creek though the locust trees cut starkly against the winter blue sky.

The turkey met its conclusion in a tasty soup accompanied by fresh baked biscuits and tangy pepper jellies.  We thoroughly enjoyed Colin and April's company on their last full day at home.

Day 727: Departures

First cousins: Jason, Sarah, Brad, April and Colin

After a rousing night of Karaoke downtown last night, most of the cousins are on the road again today.  Justin and Evan took off for NYC this morning.  Brad and Jason said goodbye to their grandma and left this afternoon to see their dad in Michigan.  Colin and April are seeing her dad and stepmother tonight then going to a nerd's Christmas party where they will play D&D.  

We have been so fortunate to have this time together.   April apologized for making noise when they came in early this morning, but our lives are so quiet that I assured her that commotion and laughter are welcome.  Too soon our home will be still and quiet again. 

Day 726: Post Christmas

Our nephew Brad and his girl friend Sarah joined us this morning for our annual photo Christmas photo session.  Evan's friend Matt staged and photographed us.  Such rugged looking men in our family!

Steve and Justin drove in a fierce snow storm to the Whiskey Hill Saloon so our family could enjoy the garbage charred wings.  They loved them!  Next up, a ferocious game of Die Siedler, one of our favorite, highly competitive games.  It was intense, but Colin and April crushed us!

Day 725: Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  

A beautiful day with family and dear friends!

The best kind of day.

More tomorrow.

Stockings hung by the stairway with care!

Just before everyone seized their stockings, I captured this quiet moment.

Day 724: Christmas Eve

Graceful snow falling, loving family, dear friends,  a lovely day!  So many blessings.  Merry Christmas to all!

Paddy and Steve

Our backyard

Day 723: Eve of Christmas Eve

The magic hour was six pm when Evan and Justin rolled in just as the turkey was lifted from the oven and the sprouts reached roasted perfection.

Though the photo is a bit blurry, all six of us are gathered for dinner at home.  It's the best time of the year!

Molly and her cuddle buddy, April.

Day 722: Amaryllis

Lots of cooking today: two apple pies and a pumpkin pie, pulled pork prepared in Chiavetta's sauce with Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce, baked beans and salad!  YUM!

The brilliant red amaryllis that Betsy gave us opened!   

Dragonfly ornament

Day 721: Colin and April arrive home

Cooking was on today's agenda.  Evan wants to gain ten pounds this week and I plan to accommodate him.  Lots of meat, veggies and carbs are on the menu.  Pasta with sausage and parmesan cheese tonight, pulled pork tomorrow, then turkey and dressing on Monday.  Christmas Eve at Mary's always includes delicious treats followed by ham, beans and salad, along with lots of leftovers for Christmas day.  Thursday we are not cooking.  We have been telling the boys about the garbage charred wings from Whiskey Hill saloon, so we must have them before they go back.

I got the ahhhh moment I long for when Colin and April walked in the house late this afternoon.  They are so happy to be home for a whole week.

Me, Carol, Pat and Sarah at the Penelope Christmas party.

Julian and Pat's cat, Sheba, always enjoys a party!

Day 720: Oh Christmas Tree

Tomorrow, the festivities begin!  Colin and April will arrive by train in late afternoon.  I'm cooking a turkey for the Penelope Christmas party tomorrow evening.  Then Evan and Justin will be home on Monday.  Hopefully, Evan will have recovered from the flu!

Day 719: Student leader applications

Twenty five Fredonia students submitted applications for student leader.  That's down from the last few years.  Every one of them would do a terrific job.  Eight are veteran seniors and six are veteran juniors and sophomores.  Four are rookie upperclassmen and five more are freshmen. We will pick up the Brocton applications in the morning and I know there will be two more seniors and a couple more lower classmen.  It's important to train new younger leaders since we will lose ten at graduation, but how will we pick?  This year we added a requirement that students provide the names of two teachers who will act as references, so we will check with them.    Of course, we also don't know how many kids from the three schools will enroll.

Day 718: Book Club Christmas

Today's workshop for the task force on internationalization was very interesting and I met several fascinating new people from the faculty and student body.   One young man studying in France spent hours with us on Skype because he is so committed to foreign study for every student.  A graduate student from Bemus Point had spent a J term in Belize and then completed her student teaching in Australia.  Our subcommittee set the goal of increasing the number of short term international experiences for students, faculty and community members.  We talked a lot about how to encourage staff to develop opportunities and how to reduce the cost to the participants.  Other committees worked on other aspects of how to internationalize our campus.  The work will continue till  our deadline in April when we must offer an action plan to the provost and then to the faculty senate in May.   

Book Club Christmas party 2013

Beautiful new ornament

Day 717: Snow mountains

After we got back from Jamestown, Steve got lots of exercise and provided Paddy with a route to the back door.  He would have been buried in all the snow!  Just like Steve nearly was.  He moved too close to the edge of the deck and fell into a mountain of snow.  And now it's snowing again, five to eight more inches tonight.

Hopefully school activities will not be canceled again tomorrow and Ben will be able to get all of the auditions done.   We checked in on the student leader applications and only seven have been submitted with the due date on Thursday.

Day 716: Christmas Prep

A quiet day for Christmas preparations, I finished the decorating and the cards and still had time left over for plenty of vacuuming.    I stopped Steve from shoveling the snow off the back deck cause it looks so neat, but now our favorite weatherman, Don Paul, is recommending clearing flat roofs and decks because the moisture content and weight of the snow will increase in the next few days.  The final practical exam for the EMT class was tonight and the final written exam is on Thursday.  Finally, he will have a couple nights off each week and just in time for the arrival of our family!

Day 715: Home from Columbus

It was so hard to say goodbye to Nancy since we don't know when we will be together again.  None of us could bear knowing that she was going home to an empty house.  She was incredibly brave and selfless this weekend.  Laurie's house and our little family became a safe cocoon where she could laugh at stories of their life together or weep in the quiet moments.

Little snow fell while we drove until we re-entered the blizzard zone in New York again.   Steve's driveway was missing entirely so we dropped him off at the road and he climbed through the drifts in his sneakers to reach the house.

Our gremlin, Cody, had blown out our driveway and the paths to the house, so we were able to drive right into the garage.

Just a couple feet of snow on the back deck.

All cleared when we arrived home!

Steve's house buried under mountains of snow!

Day 714: Franklin Park Conservatory

A sweet day family day:  stories, dominoes, adventures, Yorkshire pudding, light show, visiting, tears, kindness, laughter, grief and pain, remembering, aching hearts, hugs and gentleness.

Steve, Cait, Sarah and Brad clowning around

Egg, sausage and polenta casserole

Sculpture

Light installation

Three sisters

Laurie, Nancy and Sue

Day 713: Columbus Christmas

Bright sunshine, blue sky and clear roads greeted us in Ohio.  Once we got out of NYS, the snow and slush vanished and we had a safe, enjoyable trip to Columbus.  Driving from our house to my brother Steve's on Webster Rd. was treacherous, but then going down West Hill was even worse.

It was wonderful to be together again.  Everything we do and discuss is tinged with sadness, but we are  reminiscing and sharing stories about happier times when Glenn was with us.  Nancy is tougher than I could ever imagine despite the brutal loss.  Everyone pitched in to help Laurie make roast beef,  mashed potatoes, gravy and most importantly, Yorkshire Pudding!

Mallard crossing

Mallard confab

Marty

Nancy and Marty

Day 712: Paddy in the bag

We experienced another terrifying trip through a snow storm today as we traveled back from Orchard Park.  The snow bands through Angola and Silver Creek produced white outs for miles before moving north over Buffalo.  All the after school activities were canceled so the auditions have been moved to next week.  Tomorrow we have to drive through another broad band coming across the lake all the way to Cleveland.  Nancy said we should cancel if the weather is too bad, but I couldn't bear to disappoint her.

I nearly finished the shopping and then did tons of wrapping this afternoon.  Paddy decided to help out and climbed into the shopping bags.  Despite the cold, he had to go out to do his rounds.

Blizzard on the thruway

Day 711: December Blizzard!

We got caught in the blizzard today and a short trip to Tops turned into a nightmare.  It was snowing when we left the house, but not hard.  By the time we left Tops, we couldn't see our car or Vineyard Drive.  Traffic crawled along and I was scared someone would hit us or we would spin out.  I could see traffic standing still and backed up on the thruway.  Officials closed it for a couple hours.

The parent meeting and all other activities at the school were cancelled.  Getting the kids home must have been frightening for parents, kids, bus drivers and all the school officials.  Instead of going out this evening, I spent the time finishing up the garland and doing more gift wrapping.  It was lovely.

Each day after a conversation with my sister,  I cry.  Tonight, she shared stories of the many acts of kindness she has been shown.  This morning, she took Glenn's wedding ring into the jewelry store to have it resized so that she can wear it.  Just a six weeks ago, he had taken her engagement ring in to have the diamond reset on a beautiful band with extra diamonds for their 30th anniversary.  Nancy asked for the same clerk who has taken care of them over the years.  When Nancy told the clerk what had happened to Glenn and what she wanted, the young girl burst into tears.  She had no idea he had died.  She assured Nancy they would immediately resize the ring … for free.

She has terrible days, bad days and decent days.  Today was a peaceful day and I am in awe that she is managing the huge number of sad tasks so well.   On Friday, we will all be together again in Columbus.

The back yard view

Front yard view across the street

Christmas garland

Day 710: Lake Effect

I made roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas and gravy on a Tuesday!  No Yorkshire pudding, but still delicious.  Yum!  We put up the Christmas  tree and I spent hours wrapping presents and adding more baubles to the garland.  The boys will love it!

Our Brocton parent meeting went very well, despite the blizzard.  The white outs were so severe that we couldn't even see the driveway to the school.  One more parent meeting tomorrow and we'll have a rough tally of participants.  Also, the Fredonia School Board acted tonight to approve the addition of Silver Creek students to join Quest. Their school board will act tomorrow night.  It's very exciting to see the program growing.  It's almost a full time job!

Day 709: Happy 30th birthday Colin!

Colin as Mr. Bumble in Oliver, March 2002

Colin and April at his senior prom in June 2002

Colin with his friend Kiel just before he departs for basic training in April 2003

Colin on duty in Korea Nov. 2003

Colin on duty in Korea Nov. 2003

Colin and April's wedding on Oct. 5, 2008

First baby: Drizz't 

Summer 2009

Colin and April move to NYC June 2011

On the Brooklyn Bridge, Nov. 2012

Colin at work at the Lindsey Adelman Studio

Nov. 2012

Sky High Adventure in July 2012

Summer 2013