101st Post!

I just noticed the last post was the 100th post to this blog. That's pretty darn good, I think. Some days it's easier than others to come up with something to say but you all have been pretty good about helping out. Thanks and cheers to all of us in this 101st blog post!

Next in my collection of Irish surname pins is Flynn: O Floinn: The Flynns are the descendants of the O Floinn septs of which there were two in Co. Cork, one in West Carbery barony and the other in East Muskerry barony (don't ask me, I've never heard of these). Other septs of O'Flynn existed in Castlereagh barony in Co. Roscommon (OK now we are in familiar territory) as well as in Co. Antrim. The name ranks in the top fifty names in Ireland and is spread widely. The greatest numbers are found in Counties Cork and Roscommon.

Name meaning: Ruddy or red

Francis P. Flynn is probably your best known Flynn. Weenie had two brothers John (Uncle 4-5) and Charles (Dinty). His parents were Barbara and Patrick Flynn. I believe Patrick was born in Pennsylvania but his mother reportedly was born in Ireland (more about her next).

Patrick's father Timothy Flynn is currently our "original" Flynn--the most recent Flynn born in Ireland. I know almost nothing about him and I find it very intriguing that our old fisherman Timothy Ryan is also the "original" Ryan so far and the most recent Ryan born in Ireland. Both named Timothy! We have 2 great great great Irish grandfathers named Timothy. Cheers again!

Happy Birthday Paula

Taken a mere 45 years ago--Paula's first "real" birthday! Happy Birthday Paula! I like this picture for the Valentine on the back wall, the Last Supper painting, the embroidered tablecloth, the cake stand and cake--all great memories.

A while back, I bought some pins in an Irish store that are coats of arms for our various Irish surnames Today as I was getting them ready to wear (since it's March finally) I realized they contained interesting information on the back. I have no idea how valid any of this is but here you go: Ryan (O Riain) is descended from the Irish sept of O Maoilriain located in Co. Limerick and Tipperary in the baronies of Owenybeg, Oweny and Arra. Established in the 14th Century to the point now where Ryan is in the top ten most numerous names in Ireland. The greatest numbers of the name are in Counties Limerick and Tipperary. Name Meaning "River God".

So, to the rest of you River Gods, welcome to March!

Identity Issues

This is one of the pictures I got from the old slides. Now, who is this? I immediately took this to be Paula and labeled the picture accordingly. Then, like the good researcher and librarian that I am (all right--pain in the butt), I noticed the slides are all labeled May 1960 and it is very doubtful that this is a 2-3 month old baby. Much more likely this is a baby just a little over a year old--therefore our dear Kathy. And when you see the remaining slides it becomes obvious that this is indeed Kathy. I am struck by how much she resembles Paula as a baby. What do you think? It's a lesson to me not to be too hasty in identifying and labeling pictures.

Issues of identity are on my mind lately. Some of it is due to the fact that Jim's nephew Jake recently married Lindsay. Now she's Lindsay Dalpiaz. Jim's oldest brother has a daughter Lindsay--Lindsay Dalpiaz. There was some discussion about how Lindsay Dalpiaz felt about Lindsay Dalpiaz having her name. Lindsay was thoughtful enough to say something to Lindsay expressing her concern that Lindsay might be upset that there was another Lindsay. I wasn't as thoughtful when I married Jim creating another Pat Dalpiaz. Lindsay Dalpiaz was saying it was kind of bothering her to share her name with Lindsay Walker Dalpiaz. Never dawned on me that Pat Dalpiaz might not want to share her name with Pat Ryan Dalpiaz. I feel kind of bad for not being more considerate of Pat's feelings.

Regarding Patricia Dalpiaz, more and more I resent that bureaucracy INSISTS that I am Patricia A. Dalpiaz. I am not. I do not use my middle initial at all myself and never have. It's not that I mind my middle name or anything, I just like Patricia Dalpiaz (most Patricia's are A anyhow). That's my name. I feel like I should control it and not some bank or credit card or cable company. Shouldn't we get to pick our identity? Why is some nameless third or fourth party deciding what my name should be? It isn't Barack H. Obama, is it? Love and kisses, Patty Anne

A Rare Find

I've had these slides from Dad's collection for a while now, just hanging on to them wondering what I'd ever be able to do with them but not able to bring myself to throw them away. Then I found a handy dandy tool that came with a scanner that allows us to scan these slides. And that was one of my vacation projects--I was definitely not expecting to see anything very much new to me.

But I did! These pictures are mostly new to me and quite interesting. I'll be posting a few here and there. I think it's appropriate to show these winter pictures. I was just talking with someone about sledding at Tri County. I don't know if that is where this picture was taken but it's labeled 1963 so I think that's Paula in for foreground and Mary Jane in the background--and Mom! I can't say I ever remember Mom joining us playing outside--you remember any such event as that? It's labeled "Paddy Ryan and Family" so I suspect it came from someone else. Obviously both Dad and Mom are in the picture so it was taken by someone else (DUH).

This one of Chris and I made me start thinking about the house we lived in before we moved to Dennison Road on Olive Place in Silver Creek. I did some Google searching (maps and Google Earth) to see if the house was where I remembered it was--number 10 seems to be the house number in the pictures. I put my Nancy Drew talents to work and went to maps.google.com and searched for 10 Olive Place in Silver Creek and yes, the house is where I remember it (so house numbers have probably not changed).

So I starting thinking about how I haven't really paid attention to where all those pictures of us when we were young were taken. Pretty much had to be either Olive Place or Olean. Chris was born in Dunkirk in 1957 so we must have lived there at that time until just after Paula was born in 1960. Don't really know why I'm kind of fixed on this. I have only one real memory of that place and absolutely no specific memories of the inside of the house. Anyhow, sharing this with you should help with my fixation--for a few days at least.

The other cool part of this investigation are the Silver Creek "today" pictures I found on the Google maps. Someone named Steve has "pinned" pictures of downtown Silver Creek onto the map of the area. I really enjoyed looking at them and thought you might too. I emailed him to say thanks and I think he is Steve Waterhouse--that name doesn't mean much to me but he mentioned a cousin Ralph Waterhouse and that does sound familiar. Small world, even if it looks kind of big in that tobogganing picture!

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day. Sure is nice to have it be bright and almost sunny outside--that certainly helps. My memories of Valentine's Days are pretty vague but I do recall being told that I was home sick on Valentine's Day in kindergarten and Russell Stebbins came to the house to deliver his Valentine for me.

Thinking of Valentine's Day brings to mind the smell of paste and cut paper as you design those heartfelt construction paper hearts for your parents--and others if you had a special someone! I remember being pretty careful in selecting which of those teeny tiny paper valentines would be addressed to whom. What I don't really remember is if I looked at the ones I received to see if there was any hidden meaning between the Goofy valentine or the Fred Flintstone one. I do remember we always had to make sure to include everyone in the class so very updated lists would come home with us. I don't know if such lists are still sent home with the expectation that a child will bring in a valentine for each classmate. This was something that was done at home when we were in school. I have a feeling such work is now done right in the classroom if done at all. Funny I don't have a clear recollection of what Amy and Ryan did for their classmates. I think I tried to send in 23 pencils or something like that.

Anyhow, sweet wishes to you today! It was Julia's 3rd birthday this week!! We can't wait to see her again. Amy is almost 5 in this picture and Ryan's about 1 1/2 and looking thrilled.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday wishes Ryan P! You've come a long way baby!

Pure grace!!

Baryshnikov Dalpiaz in action. The kid has a future. And they won!!