Anne Marie Flynn Ryan 1933-2002

I am missing Mom a great deal today.  I think she would have enjoyed hearing about the Charlotte trip.  One of the best times I ever had with Mom was one of those trips to Toronto.  I had a haircut experience yesterday that would have made her smile, I'm sure.  I guess you already know it isn't usually the big things that bring Mom to mind, but the little everyday things like haircuts. 

Anyhow, here are some pictures I thought you might like even though I think you have seen them before.

The famous blue dress in black and white.  I think this was before their own Toronto trip.   Imagine how much they were looking forward to that!

A day that was a LONG time coming

Not the most flattering picture of Mom but they all look so happy.

So they say "Rest in Peace" which is a very comforting thought for those of us left behind, but how could she possibly rest in peace rejoining her parents, her grandparents and Mary Jane?  She can meet grandparents she never knew (Grampie and Mary Brown).  How peaceful can it really be?

Whoooo, Me??  NASCAR??

We've been in Charlotte North Carolina for the past few days.  That city is all NASCAR all the time--and I don't mean maybe.  We went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Museum, the Speedway, a NASCAR Art Museum and Hendrick shop.  Honestly it was interesting even for me.  I nearly lost it when we pulled up to the Art Museum but even that was intriguing because the artist was on site and spent some time talking to us about his career and various interests.  What sealed it was that he designed the uniforms, cars etc for Talladega Nights so I had fun sharing that with Ryan.  No doubt the effect NASCAR has on the economy of that city.

We were also taken to some more cultural destinations like the Levine Museum of the New South where I was reminded the War never ended for many in the south.  It was crushingly southern.  We went to the Raptor center and watched these two owls do a little show for us.  We also went to the Olympic training site for whitewater rafting--a man made course which looked super cool.  They also had rock climbing and sip lines.  The school trips would really dig it big time if you could ever get the Boards of Education to agree.  

We got somewhat educated in some hotel idiosyncrasies.  Our Charlotte hotel had the lights embedded in the bathroom mirrors--along with a TV for your viewing pleasure while performing your bathroom rituals.  Never had such an amenity before.  We stayed in Winchester one night and that room had a full blown jacuzzi right next to the bed inside the room.  I really need to get out more.  

Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthday Judy--do you remember this?  I am pretty sure it was a celebration of your birthday in 2000.  This is memorable in part because Judy just fell flat out of her chair that evening.  Out of nowhere and with nothing pushing her --she just fell out of that chair!

And welcome to the world Calvin Warde and Claire Warde!  In case you are wondering, these babies are our first cousins once removed--if you are one of my siblings.  For the "kids" like Jess, Amanda, Taylor, Tim, Kevin, Bill, Ryan, or Matthew--the babies are your second cousins.  So happy to hear the good news and thinking about Cathy and Chris today.

Give us a D...Give us an A...Give us a D....What's that spell?

Can you find your father in this picture?

I have this labeled as taken in 1945 which matches right up with what I figure are Dad's high school years.  I guess he came by his Bonaventure cheering position honestly!  And our cheerleaders Kathy Paula and Mary Jane's pom poms didn't fall far from the tree.  There's a 1945 Gloucester High yearbook available on eBay that I expect includes Dad.  They want $65 for it (!) which is too rich for my blood especially considering we probably trashed them when we cleaned out the house.  Guess we should have been more on top of that at the time but that 1945 Gloucester yearbook has been on sale for several weeks now (no wonder at $65).

Happy Father's Day to all our dads out there.  Sure is a different experience today than it was in the past.

More about those Franciscan brothers

I guess I'm not the only one interested in the story of the twin friars:  See this NPR story.

Gotta Love Those Franciscans!

I recently saw a headline noting that twin 92 year old brothers died within hours of each other in Florida.  This intrigued me so I clicked the link and was delighted to see the tag line was Olean!  So, of course, I read more carefully and learned that these two men were Franciscan priests who served many years together at St. Bonaventure.  I was especially tickled by this article from the Buffalo News.  It appears that these two were quite the cards and I couldn't help but smile as I read the article.  It made me think that if I were ever to have to be a priest, I would choose to be Franciscan.  I remember Mom and Dad telling some great stories especially about Fr. Crispin.  It looks like these two were on campus during at least some of the years that Mom and Dad were there so I am guessing some of their stories may actually have been about them!

This is at our kitchen table prior to Judy's wedding.  Note the (usual) table decorations!  Fr. Crispin came all the way to Walton to perform weddings for Kathy, Judy and I.  I can't remember if Paula's was conducted by Fr. Crispin or not but it was always fun to have the out of town wedding guests kind of gasp at his laid back behavior (or worse if he drove back to the rectory after sitting at our kitchen table for a few hours).  We also could reassure our guests that even though it was a Catholic wedding, it was a Franciscan style Mass!  Short and sweet and to the point.

He obviously had a long history with our family and I was sad to learn that he died when his oxygen ignited from a lit cigarette.  I see the same smile in these pictures taken 34 years apart.  Gotta love those Franciscans!

This is what remains of my chocolate malt from Sonic after sitting in my closed car for about 4 hours in low 60 degree weather.  I hadn't had very much of it before I had to leave it behind in the car for what turned out to be several hours so the chocolate malt ice cream mixture melted into a liquid mess.  But the "whipped cream" didn't change shape or texture one little bit.  It is very disturbing to think that this stuff didn't disintegrate AT ALL -- even when I dumped it down the disposal--it was still very cohesive and perfectly formed.  Really makes you wonder what it is made of.  I thought about looking it up but I don't think I want to know and I certainly don't want to burden you with that knowledge. 

When I think of our childhood, sometimes I think about all those commonplace every day habits of the adults in our lives that are now considered unhealthy or even dangerous.  Leaving meat out on the counter for hours and hours; full fat milk; no use of seat restraints or car seats--the list could go on and on.  We have been well trained in different habits, but it seems to me that no unhealthy or dangerous habit that Mom and Dad may have exposed us to could possibly be as scary as this blob of white.