You’ve met my youngest grandie, Samantha Lynn Mayne Casey, many times on this blog. I’ve been chronicling our adventures for ten years now and we’ve watched her grow. She is the youngest of my four grandies, born the year I retired, and we’ve had so many wonderful adventures together — watching “toodles”, playing with Paw Patrol, riding our Magic Carpets to DisneyWorld, weekly sleep-overs, drawing lots of pictures, learning to play the piano — and we look forward to making many more memories to cherish. She has always been a happy little girl and a joy to her Jojo and Grandpa.
Birth! 1 year
She’s busy today at an Archery tournament, so we celebrated together last Monday at Eastland Mall. Build-a-Bear has a birthday bear that costs a dollar per year of your existence, so our mission was to add all the bells and whistles and clothes to make a great new stuffie. Mission Accomplished…
Then we were off to the food court for some ice cream rolls from DinoIce. She chose a concoction of strawberries and banana in her ice cream rolls, topped with cotton candy, made right there with special strawberry flavoring, that was to die for.
I had a freebie coupon from Bath & Body, so we also picked up an Ariel hangy thing for her backpack. We were happy.
There are no words that adequately express the Love we feel for our children and grandchildren, but we try…
Happiest of Birthdays, dear Samantha! I wish you Love and Happiness for all of your days.
It feels to me like we missed New Year’s Eve. We got back from NYC on the 29th, and my cousin arrived on the 30th and spent the night here so we could take her to the airport (about 5 minutes away) on the 31st. I thought she was leaving yesterday morning, but her flight was actually in the evening, and was then delayed, finally leaving around 9pm. By that time, I was so physically and mentally exhausted that I just crashed as soon as we saw her off. I didn’t get my mind on preparing for this New Year, so today I’m going to make some lists as I put away Christmas decorations.
For now, I leave you with my old stand-by to welcome this turn of the page.
New Years by Dana Gioia
Let other mornings honor the miraculous. Eternity has festivals enough. This is the feast of our mortality, The most mundane and human holiday.
On other days we misinterpret time, Pretending that we live the present moment. But can this blur, this smudgy in-between, This tiny fissure where the future drips
Into the past, this flyspeck we call now Be our true habitat? The present is The leaky palm of water that we skim From the swift, silent river slipping by.
The new year always brings us what we want Simply by bringing us along—to see A calendar with every day uncrossed, A field of snow without a single footprint.
We had a Super Christmas Celebration with Michael, Jess, Nova, and Samantha on Sunday, starting off our morning at Nellie’s North before heading back to Sonnystone to open presents. We then trooped off to see Moana 2 – which I really enjoyed, as it supports all my beliefs regarding Ancestors and their presence in our lives.
Now we’re ready to drive down to Nashville for the night, catching an early-morning flight to NYC. Very Excited, to say the least, and still watching out for Santa and his reindeer to fly by…
Wherever you are, whatever you celebrate, I am beaming Peace and Love to you — Reach out and grab it!
We had a nice Thanksgiving with this crew, for whom I am eternally grateful.
We woke up to a couple of inches of fluffy snow this morning — nice touch, Cosmo, and very conducive to our ongoing (and on) hanging of the Greens.
Three more weeks of waning light until Earth’s wobble will turn us back toward the Sun and these incredible shrinking days will slowly begin to expand. Until then, it’s time to make the best of those 5 or so hours of daylight!
I’ve been writing out a monthly dopamine menu, which is a list of activities to do that trigger the release of dopamine, our homemade pleasure chemical, in the brain. December’s menu pretty much writes itself: Do All Things Christmas-y: Play the Music! Bake cookies! Buy Presents! Watch the sappy TV movies! Deck the Fa-la-la out of the Halls! I’ll be working in a trip to Grayville for a cousin luncheon, a visit to the Zoo and the Eville Museum, and Nova has a Vocal recital on the 14th. We’re planning a Winter Solstice Celebration on the 21st, hopefully lighting a Yule Log outside in my circle. Did I mention that my daughter has a birthday on the 20th? It’s going to be a lovely month, full of love and family.
Since Emma is not home from Colgate until 12/18, we have had to change up our 20-year-old Rockettes tradition–We will be going to a 5pm performance on Boxing Day (12/26). Casey and I will fly out of Nashville on Christmas morning and stay with the Joses until the 29th. We should have time this trip to visit the Met and the MOMA, something we’ve missed doing.
Our Christmas with the Jrs. will be December 22 and will include “Moana 2” — I can hardly wait. We have more plans with my Local girls in the next weeks, so I’ll keep you informed. I know you’ll be waiting with bated breath…
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks here at the Acres. I’ve been see-sawing between feeling not-so-great and not-so-bad; nothing serious, just low energy. I’ve gotten behind on housework, yardwork, writing, while spending a lot of time laying around with a book. I’m still slow.
Last Sunday we met up with my son and his family for little something to celebrate his 43rd trip around the sun. His wife, however, could not attend because she was feeling bad from Covid. Her symptoms sounded vaguely like mine, but I haven’t been around her and I don’t test for those things.
I was tired and my food was horrible and the very-bad server didn’t even bring him a brownie bite, so it wasn’t much of a celebration, though it was nice to be together. But it’s not her fault that I forgot to take any pictures!!!
I did not get a picture! Not one! No selfie for his birthday! No blow-the-candle-out photo! I was very disappointed, naturally, and too tired (and sick-looking) to run over to his house and stage one. I assure you, he did not care… However, this failure on my part led me on a search through old pictures, and I remembered that I cry easily…
My Boy-Child…
I think he’ll like these better than a selfie anyway. My son is such a mensch and I love him like a rock.
While I’m not quite back to my normal bounce, I’m currently feeling Fine. Samantha and I started back to Jojo’s Academy of Music yesterday – this is her third year and she’s very good. We’re scheduled for every Saturday, but the good thing about having your Grandma teach you piano is that she can be very flexible. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.
Willard Library and the Genealogy Society are having a seminar this week and I’ve signed up for 2-3 of the speakers. I have been attending this gathering for years and recently they’ve added Food Trucks which I appreciate!
It’s cool today and I’m going to get some mums planted…slowly… Hope you’re feeling perky in your neck of the woods.
Hi, kids! It’s been a busy week here at the Acres, mostly garden and housework, mundane chores and such.
To celebrate our wedding anniversary we visited a new eating spot in downtown Eville, Patsy Hartigan’s Irish Pub. I really liked the atmosphere – horse racing and soccer on the TVs – and the food was not only delicious, but also reasonably priced. I’m excited to return and try everything on the menu!
I did manage to figure out the microsoft chipchamp program well enough to put together a short video of Camp Sonnystone. It’s really much better than what I’ve been using, but my brain was shorting out a couple of times trying to move and trim; I figured out that AI will fix everything for you…well, not everything but a lot…
It’s just under two minutes. Enjoy!
Giggle, guffaw, chuckle, chortle – however you express your amusement – Let’s All Laugh! (it seems to make some people cray-cray)
There’s a Super Moon coming up tomorrow and we’ll be out howling!
It’s a wrap, folks! The long-awaited, highly-anticipated visit from the NewYorkers lived up to its hype. Both the “Last Camp” and the Disney Trip were wildly successful, and despite the efforts of the weather gods to sabotage our plans, we danced in the rain… I have a newly-installed video editing program and will be creating a couple of movies to chronicle the Fun.
Emma, Eliza, Nova, and Samantha snapping beans…
We’re taking a breather, but our August calendar is beginning to fill in. The Bluegrass in the Park Folklife Festival is coming up this week-end over in Henderson. Sunday, the 11th, is my dil, Jessica’s birthday and Thursday, the 15th is my sil, Eric’s birthday — that’s a lot of cake right there. We will be celebrating 44 years of wedded bliss on the 15th and if weather permits we’ll be camping in New Harmony again.
It feels good to get back to the old routine, and I am looking so forward to doing more writing across all of my blogs. Follow me, kids, and you’ll have plenty to read this month…
Two Sundays ago, we were arriving in Disney World, meeting up with the Jose Family for 5 days of Fun. Despite the hellish weather, we had a Great Time!
Last Sunday, we were arriving home from our Trip, overwhelmed with laundry and catching up with the gardens. Now This Sunday, we’re waiting as patiently as we can for Melissa, Emma, and Eliza to arrive to spend the next 5 days with us!
This is most likely our last Camp Sonnystone, but it’s going to be Super. I will share with you next week. Thanks for following me, dear Friends.
My #1 grandie, Emma, graduated from Trevor Day School in NYC on Thursday, June 13, 2024. All the feels were felt, intermingling and filling my heart until they overflowed my eyes. It was not a commencement like our local public school presents, no valedictorian or special honors, no keynote speaker, instead giving each student a chance to speak if they wanted to commit to preparation for six weeks prior to the ceremony. I think there were about ten or more speakers and I was prepared to settle in and snooze until Emma’s #6 oration. I did not snooze. These kids were so inspiring that by the time Emma spoke I was worried that she might not do as well!!! She showed up and was brilliant, truly the best, but put together with the others bolstered my confidence that these kids can change the world.
My NYC girls do soooo much Irish Dance that it seems sometimes that’s all they do. Emma took advantage of every opportunity that was afforded her at Trevor, (more stuff than I can possibly tell you because her mother (ahem) hasn’t send me the list) and was President of her Senior Class. She plans to study environmental something at Colgate University beginning this fall, perhaps becoming an environmental lawyer. She is awesome.
We are officially under the Dome of Heat. We have so enjoyed having the windows open, waking up to the swelling of the Dawn Chorus of birds, but have to give in and turn on the a/c. We’ll celebrate the Solstice this week, but somehow a bonfire doesn’t sound so fun.
The News from Sonnystone Acres 