Directly from Gloucester

Blogging from our motel directly on the water here in Rockport on my brand new-to-me Dell Mini laptop. We have the door open enough to hear the surf as Paula, Ryan and Jim watch a movie. Haven't seen Tim and Emmy yet--it's the last day of the Germans visit.

It's been a great day. We walked around Rockport and the Boulevard. Paula bought a GREAT new purse that drew many compliments and attention at dinner tonight. Her name is Henny Penny (the purse has a name--when I can post the picture you'll see why). I'm very proud of Paula for buying it and carrying it!


We think the weather tomorrow might not be great but who cares right now? We are very happy. Easter dinner tomorrow with Tim and Emmy at Cathy's house. More tomorrow!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail!

Easter 1973

Easter 1958

Happy Easter everyone! Paula and I are heading to Gloucester for the weekend along with Jim and Ryan. Amy doesn't even get a long weekend so she will have to stay in Kutztown for the weekend. I'm going to miss her but I am looking forward to this trip!

Easter brings back good memories of new hats, trooping to church, ham and jelly beans. I remember we would sometimes actually count the jelly beans to make sure we were all equal!

I especially enjoy Easter when it falls in April, a very hopeful month. Gloucester for Easter has become our family tradition and Gloucester is usually much nicer in April than in March (although the company is always good!). I hope we can hold the Easter Open again on Cathy and Chris' lawn this year!

And it's a great time for a vacation so I'm very happy Paula can come with us to help make new holiday memories. Have a great weekend! Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way........

Spring and birthdays

Happy birthday Tim and Sophie this week! April, of course, means baseball season! Congrats to Ryan Patrick for his varsity spot. Looks like Ryan J will be playing the infield and pitching this season. I love to watch him catching so I'm glad to have another Ryan to watch catching!

I just can't shake thinking about the victims of the shooting in Binghamton this week. It's very jarring to see something so close to home portrayed on each and every news media. Yet another reminder to make those we love know it each and every time.

Kathy heard about the shooting, got pretty concerned when she heard "Front Street" knowing that's one of our main Binghamton destinations and called to check on things. Amy got clued in when a classmate saw the news trailer and said "hey, don't you live in Binghamton?". She knew that they might just call anyplace close "Binghamton" and got scared. Although we didn't know anyone involved directly, of course such senseless loss of life and violence is hard to come to terms with. And when we get kind of isolated in the middle of such news we forget others might be worrying about us. Frankly, it's nice to have someone a little worried for us, so thanks for that! Love you all.

Happy Birthday Cousin Cathy!

One day late but Happy Birthday wishes to cousin Cathy. I don't really have a good memory of this visit to Walton, but I do have a couple of pictures to document the event! It must have been summertime as I have a pool picture too. Judy looks a little unsure here. Probably wondering who's this little kid in my house?

What a beautiful day! Baseball games are right around the corner. We hear Ryan P is on varsity --congratulations! The great weather reminds me of those days back on Dennison Road playing outside and begging, begging, begging Mom to allow us to take off our sweaters. I think I remember she said that once it was 60 degrees we could take them off. I remember I kept checking the outside thermometer just praying the arm would have rised those maybe 3 or 4 degrees.

This picture pretty much sums up how I felt today!

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Gloucester Report

This is Gloucester Sunday March 22 2009. We sorely needed sea air, crashing waves and Tim's wisdom so off we went. And this is what we could see from our hotel.

We realized it's been a year and a half since our last visit, so no wonder Miss Julia looks so grown up. She has very long legs. She was quite shy around us strangers. She has her grandmother and grandfather wrapped right around her little finger. She dragged them here there and beyond while we were at Cathy's. Cathy and Chris both look great. Chris was laid off for a while but is now working. Cathy has a birthday this week!

Kevin stopped by briefly while we were there. He didn't share much but currently doesn't have a license for a while due to DUI or some such. He has a new roommate who is a shirttail kind of relative of Kristina's.

Cousin Petey has a girlfriend who is now pregnant with his baby. She also has another young child, so he's got his hands full. I guess he had some of them over for dinner recently and really made a great dinner. I think I heard Peter quit drinking--at least I think that's what I heard!

Tim was also laid off from his J-I-T position at the Elks but is interviewing for another one (equally glorious in title). The ongoing dispute was whether he is getting unemployment or workman's compensation--regardless he's making more $$ staying home--now he's getting all of $73 a week not to go to the Elks club and work. He was trying to school me on the IRA but I was having some trouble keeping up.

They did tell us several stories from their visit to Ireland. It sounded wonderful. I did not expect it any other way. Emmy really thinks it would be grand for all of us to visit Ireland together.

This sure makes it sound like we jammed a lot into just a few hours and I guess we did. It was very restorative. We are still planning to go there for Easter.

We are sorry to hear Chris' news about Weezy. Our pets are near and dear to us all and we all suffer loss when one passes on. They hold a special place in our lives always. Our sympathy Chris and Lori.

Ides of March !

There was a cute cartoon in the paper today about the Ides of March. Hard to believe you could get a punchline out of that, but they did. Anyway, the reference to the Ides of March always makes me think of Julius Caesar. Most people don't know when it is. Neither do many people know when St. Patrick's Day is. Go figure.


Now this is my last surname pin (so far) and it's probably the least known of your Irish ancestry. Martin Costello is our great great great grandfather and he drowned on the Schooner Paul Revere with his son in law Captain John Bentley. Martin was apparently the cook and I believe he came from Galway.


From the pin: Costello (Mac Coistealbh) The Costellos and Costelloes are the descendants of the Anglo Norman name of de Nangle. The de Nangles arrived in Ireland soon after "the conquest" and settled in Connacht. The name is recorded as far back as 1193, when it took the form of Oistealb. With evolution it took the form of MacGoisdelbh and subsequently to MacOisdealbh. The name was established in France, Spain and America as a result of the turmoil of the 17th century. Variant (this surprises me): McCastalaighe; McCostello; Costelloe; Costellow; Costilly; Costley and Nangle.







Name meaning: "Son of Oistealb" or "Shaped"

That's all the pins and Irish surname information for this pre-St. Patrick's Day series. I am actually not having very much luck with the Irish ancestors recently but these things come and go. I have faith that my Irish stubborness will serve me well in the hunt for more information.

Thanks, Paula for sharing Timothy with us! This one is a little harder for most of you, I am guessing. The Breen coat of arms is in honor of Patrick Flynn's mother Ellen Breen (Weenie's grandmother). Weenie never knew her as she died 14 years before he was even born. Ellen had at least two sisters Johanna and Jane who also lived in Emporium PA.

From the pin information: BREEN: O Braoin The Breens are the descendants of the Irish septs of O Biaoin and Mac Braoin. The O Braoin spet were locted in the Barony of Westmeath (Ellen and her sisters were reportedly born in County Clare). The Mac Braoin were to be found in the barony of Knocktopher in Co. Kilkenny. After the Anglo Norman invasions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the septs were anglicised to Breen and the name was dispersed widely. Leinster is not the most favoured location along with Munster.

NAME MEANING: "Sorrow" (how Celtic!)

I don't know if everyone got to see Ryan's face plastered on the front page of the Binghamton Press yesterday (and above the fold too!). Check it out at pressconnects.com (search by Dalpiaz if the link doesn't work). He's been getting some pretty good feedback from the article. I am telling everyone he takes after his mother's side of the family.