Save the Date

Our annual summer soiree will be Sunday Aug 30. Theme: Wonder Years 1969: Woodstock and Moonwalks (the real moon walk). Be there or be square! More details to follow.

In the Good Ol Summertime

Maybe if I talk about the beach it will feel more like summer to me. I don't know about you but as far as summer weather goes, it's not been one of the best on record so far. But I hope you all are enjoying yours regardless.

This is dad at the beach with his mother, Catherine Pierce Ryan, long before Peter arrived on the scene. Apparently this is Long Beach which I don't have any real memories of but I do have some vague recollections of time on Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. I remember digging around in the sand near the bridge where there were small pools of water left behind by the tide. I remember how flat and wet the beach area was and how cold the water was.

I've never been a real big fan of the beach (sand, slimy seaweed and mysterious creatures underfoot) but I do love the sound of the ocean and the feel of the sun. This seems to be a very sunny day although Dad seems a little mystified. I wonder who's behind the camera.

This is a picture of Mom on the beach probably when she was about 5. I am not sure what beach this might be. Ever thought about how our ancestors on both sides spent a great deal of time in and near water? No wonder we seem drawn to Gloucester. Although learning to swim in Lake Erie probably should have killed that instinct in me, it didn't. Fort Myers Beach is probably the closest I ever came to actually almost enjoying the beach.

Ryan's first beach experience was in Florida at a beach just down the road from Kathleen and Nick's house. If you can imagine, I forgot to tell him to expect saltwater and he took in a big mouthful. I think he was about 4. That was the end of swimming for quite a while for him. After he forgave me for that, he was cautious for years to ask first if it was saltwater before he dipped a toe in.

Water was part of our everyday lives when we lived in Silver Creek. Moving "inland" to Walton was the first time I realized that not everyone grows up near water and that some people don't learn how to swim as part of a rite of childhood. Ryan and Amy don't have that same experience, but I hope they will always feel the pull of the ocean. Well, not literally.

Tick Tock

Twice this week, someone mentioned to me that the summer is going by really fast. Yikes. To me, it seems like it has barely started. Guess I better take another look at a calendar.

Time has a way of getting by me. You might remember I said I'd been invited to my class reunion for Silver Creek and for Walton this summer. 35. Yeah, I know. Where did that time go?? Anyhow, over the weekend I sat down to finally get through some paperwork that had been sitting there and I actually opened those. Silver Creek held theirs July 4th--it had already gone by and I just now opened the envelope. I couldn't have gone anyhow since Kathleen and Nick were here but it still came as a surprise. Didn't seem that long ago that it came.

This past weekend was the Gus Macker tournament. This is Ryan Patrick -- I just love this picture. So I was able to see Matthew, Ryan P and Ryan J play basketball and chat with Judy.

I see Paula has been able to spend some quality time with the grandchildren (how cool is that --plural!!) Congratulations to all. And with a wedding to look forward to, Paula has her hands full this summer (I noticed the guy on Raising the Bar looks like Kevin Kelly a bit).

Amy is at Wallops Island for 3 weeks--she drove herself so I guess she's a real adult now (in her eyes, not mine yet). We have scheduled several college visits for Ryan this summer--a little tricky between baseball, basketball, weight training, and the football season squeezing our time.

Forty years since Neil Armstrong took that giant leap. Where does the time go??

A little bit random

Miss me? I'm a little bit off schedule and I know you were missing me. C'mon, admit it, you were missing me. Kathleen and Nick were visiting from Florida last week so we were out and about most days doing some of that fun stuff you do with guests from out of town--wine tour; Gallery 3-2-1 (and Car Museum); getting chased off by lightning during Ryan's Boys State final parade; changing plans because it was raining again but enjoying the rainbows.

Remember how special it was when Uncle Tim or Uncle Peter would come for a visit? I think it's been about 10 years since Kathleen and Nick were here at the house (so you may safely conclude that my house is as clean as it has ever been in the last decade). It was fun to have them here getting a little idea of our daily lives.

Now I don't think Kathy and I were cleaning for special visitors in either of these pictures which were taken 3 years apart. Amazingly they seem to be almost exactly the same. A drink on the table, that silly pencil on a string, the drying rack.

One of the saddest sites for me after Mom died was seeing her shoes sitting under that bulletin board in the kitchen as if they were waiting for her feet to slide back in.

64

First of all, Happy Birthday Amanda! 26 years young. I hope you have a great day.

Identity issues are on my mind this week. There's a company out there that offers air travellers the opportunity to submit personal information to be held on file so they can receive automatic clearance through security at the airports that join this service. Unfortunately I forget what it is called but just as well I didn't waste brain cells on it because the company went under and so did this expedited service to airline passengers. These people paid some annual fee, submitted personal information for clearance so that they wouldn't have to stand in line and pretend that it's a pleasant social experience to board an airplane.

The company goes under. Now what happens to this information? In the name of preventing identity theft and threats to national security and safety, the public is being asked (required) to submit more and more personal information. And by "more and more" I mean more personal as well as more in quantity. That information is now available all collected up nicely together for someone smarter than I am to obtain in one fell swoop rather than really working hard to collect it up.

Newly posted signs in my doctor's office states they plan to take pictures of patients in order to protect against identity theft (!?). Additional and more highly personal information being sought in the name of protecting my identity. I promise I will not sue my doctor's office if my identity is stolen because my picture is not in the file in their offices.

Ryan got a 64 on his Chemistry Regents (our kingdom for one point) and the information required by July 1 for him to re-take this Regents on our very own campus in 6 weeks includes: date of birth, doctor's phone number; dentist's name and phone number; our family setup (foster, single parent, the ubiquitous "other"); mumps, psychiatric condition and ear infections; field trip and media release for pictures to the newspaper; (yes, I'm still registering him to take a single Regents exam in his own school) AND his social security number --which I refused to supply. Front and back of a form--there was more I can't really remember.

Jim can't find his social security card and BOCES needs it so he can teach summer enrichment. To get a replacement card, he fills out a single sided form and shows his drivers license. That's it. To replace his social security card.

Something is all backwards here. To "protect" against identity theft and terrorism we are required to submit increasingly personal pieces of information to a supposedly trustworthy authority invisible to us (BOCES for Regents retakes and summer enrichment--but not the airports---yet). Mounting evidence to prove our identity is held by someone else, which by its very nature makes it more vulnerable to theft or other nefarious purposes.

We are required to put ourselves (our very self identity) at risk in order to pass the Chemistry Regents. Seems a little bit like trying to "protect" against obesity by requiring you to purchase more Oreos so that I can put another lock on your pantry door so the Oreos are safe.

Go have an Oreo on me.

Meet Amy's new friends Flynn and Ryan

Ryan (at top) and Flynn (the brown one) are some of Amy's "Clients" at the Ross Park Zoo this summer. Can't help but think Weenie would really love this!!!

Emma Lynn O'Brien has arrived!

It is with great pleasure I would like to introduce Emma! She arrived at 10:10 a.m. on June 21, 2009 (Father's Day AND the summer solstice). She has dark hair and weighs in at 7lbs. 9oz. So far all is going well. Amanda says that this birth was easier than Emma's big sister Sophie (shown here with Dad). Amanda looks great!

Bill is a great Dad. He is always on the floor playing with Sophie and making her laugh. Sophie about jumps out of her skin when Daddy get home from work! I think that Little Miss Emma is going to have a great life. I wonder what Dioggee will think?