Can't remember

Its been so long since I updated this page, I can't remember what books I've read or what I've done recently. I often elaborate on my "theories" in my head but never seem to get them to "paper."  


I started a new contract job recently. One that is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 45 minutes away - what was I thinking?! It takes ALL my time. How did I used to work full time? I actually haven't worked full time since before Carolyn was born, although many a time I've worked much more than 40 hours a week, especially if you factor in volunteer work. The job is interesting and the people are friendly, which partly makes up for its inflexibility. Partly.


We spent Canadian Thanksgiving hosting the Gill side of our family. It was my sis-in-law, Kathy's, 50th birthday and she chose to celebrate it with all of us at a beautiful restaurant in NJ Liberty Park, which is directly across from lower Manhattan, near Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. It was a really fun weekend. Thanks to all for coming down and Kathy for the amazing evening under the stars.

Don, Eric (9), Barb, Me, Carolyn (19), Bryan (21), Kathy (50!),
Brandon (17), Michael (7)  & Doug

We spent U.S. Thanksgiving in Florida. Bryan and Carolyn flew down while Don and I drove. The weather was beautiful and company perfect! We had a good week together. It was nice for B&C to escape the media circus at PSU. What a monster ... but another blog topic maybe. 


And now I'm somewhat caught up. No theories this time.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair

Just finished reading a book perfect for all book lovers: Tolstoy and the Purple Chair. Author Nina Sankovitch, an ardent reader all her life, decides to read a book a day for a year in order to take time for herself and to somehow find peace within herself after the loss of her sister.

One of the many passages I liked:
Pg 44 - Inspired by the poem "Stepping Backwards" by Adrienne Rich, Sankovitch writes, "Looking backward allows me to see the entirety of my present life, of what it took to get me to where I am, and of what I want to have in the life still ahead of me. The big picture, the great perspective. I understand what is important by looking back to see what I remember."

Haiku quoted:
"Since my house burned down
I now own a better view
of the rising moon."
by Mizuta Masahide

There is so much that I thought of writing about as I read through this book. I was inspired by so much that Sankovitch read and observed, and related it to my own memories and "theories" - especially her chapter about what she wishes for her children. (My kids tease me about my "theories.") She has a beautiful way of weaving through her book-a-day year. At the beginning of each day she blogged about the book she read the previous day. It's all at Read All Day. I recommend this book to all book lovers.

Goodnight Irene

A lot of rain, some flooding, lots of leaves and limbs down - that was it for us. We lost power for just under two hours this morning. It's now very windy; just remnants of the storm going through now.

The white bin on our deck collected over 12 inches of rainwater. 

I had lots of bowls out on the deck collecting rainwater in case our power was out for an extended period of time. We're on well water so no power also means no water.

Heavy winds passing through now.

We could still lose power yet if trees come down over wires. The ground is soaked. But, fortunately Irene has been a non-event for us - just an excuse for a hurricane party last night, a few blog posts, and a relaxing weekend overall! We hope other communities and families along the shore have their lives back to normal as soon as possible.

Awaiting the brunt of the storm

Lots and lots of rain - no strong wind yet. Just back from a "Waiting for Irene" hurricane party, where Hurricane drinks were served. Hoping for power tomorrow morning for coffee maker!

Come on Irene

It just started raining steadily about 1/2 an hour ago. No wind yet.

Calm but rainy - front yard

We are mostly concerned about losing power for an extended period of time. I'll post new photos as weather changes, especially if it gets exciting!  Hopefully no disasters. Behave Irene. Stay safe.

Harvest time

I just harvested a big, plump, juicy tomato from my deck:

As you can see, its huge! The tomato plant went into the pot on my deck in early June and took all summer to produce this one tomato. One. Un seul. Solo una.

Let me give you a little perspective:

A farmer I'm not. I know the tomato plant "requires a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day" and my deck doesn't provide that during a dry summer. During a wet summer, like we've had, this is what we got. We're going to eat it all tonight. At this rate we will not be self sustaining - ever.

Bermuda cruise - asea

Don and I took our first-ever cruise this summer. We went with another couple who recommended the perfect first-time cruise: NYC to Bermuda on Norwegian because its "free style." It was such an easy vacation. Bryan dropped us off at the terminal in NYC and off we went with music blasting, people swimming and dancing, and cameras clicking.

Cruising down the Hudson R. out of NYC harbor

Sunsets were beautiful!

6am on our third morning we finally saw land again! Bermuda was beckoning.
Celebrity cruise ship followed us from NY.

Norwegian Gem docked at Dockyards, Bermuda

The cruise ships dominated the island shorelines of Bermuda. There were many activities that we took part in on board, including, shows (comedian, juggler, Second City), parties (70's dance, white out), pub crawl, relaxing (on balcony, at pool), games (trivia, Quest, craps lesson) and eating! More on beautiful Bermuda next posting.

Visiting Haley @ Camp

We had a wonderful visit in Maine over the July 16-17 weekend. Haley has been working with the equestrian program at a summer camp about an hour away from Portland, Maine, which is far but relatively close considering she is usually over 3000 miles away! She gave us a tour of her amazing camp - WOW, lucky campers - and then we headed into to Portland for dinner in the Old Port section of town. Haley is looking great and is loving her summer. We so enjoyed talking with her. 

Haley & Bryan in Portland, ME

Haley at Beal's Ice Cream with sprinkles!

We also enjoyed a stroll through Portsmith, NH, before, and Marblehead, MA, after our visit with Haley. She's back to school in SoCal soon. 

Happy 19th

We recently celebrated Carolyn's 19th birthday - not an especially big deal unless you live in Ontario. The next time we go home together, Carolyn will be able to join in with a legal toast to our wonderful daughter.

Of course all her birthday's are a big deal to us! We love you, Carolyn.

Front walkway completed

Except for a few minor things, our front walkway is done. Don and I spent a little time this past weekend replacing our deer fence around our front garden and are pleased that it is all looking better than before. The dirt areas have been reseeded for grass and, in some areas, more pachysandra will be planted. 

New front porch and walkway

Toby is testing the walkway for its perchability.

It's coming along - day 2

Dusty progress today:

Walkway is looking good! Blue stone set in place.

Stone edge in place. Otherwise a mess!

My poor dusty pachysandra!

Summer project: Front walk

Our front walkway was crumbling away so we had to get it fixed. The work started today and of course I've decided to capture the day-by-day progress for no reason other than I'm usually blog-material starved, which is probably not a surprise to reader(s).


Here's how it originally looked (2006):

And here's how it looks after one day of men working:

They've extended the width and messed up our lawn.

They found stone to match the house. Don inspecting.

They removed the railway ties and added stone to steps.

Tomorrow "the craftsman" arrives to lay the blue stone. 

My mom's birthday

Me, Mom & Dad

Our main reason for going to Ontario a few weekends ago was to celebrate my Mom's birthday! She had one of those "special" birthdays. It was great to be able to be together to celebrate! However, we were not our usual diligent Fraser selves, recording every moment with a group shot. This is the best photo we have, taken by Bryan's cell, but it does show the beautiful birthday girl in front of her cake! The sparkler had just finished its sparkle as this picture was taken. But mom is still sparkling, as always! We love you so much, Mom! Cheers to many more birthdays! xoxo

Memorial Day weekend

We spent this Memorial Day weekend in Ontario visiting family and friends. The main purpose of our visit was to celebrate my Mom's 80th birthday, which is officially tomorrow. (Wow!)

First we arrived in Ingersoll to visit Kathy who is just back from two weeks in Greece and Turkey. We spent the next two nights in downtown Toronto, staying near the Eaton Centre. It was a great location for shopping, walking and eating, and allowed the kids some freedom to enjoy Toronto on their own. We spent our last day visiting Barb & Doug and their boys - even caught a bit of both of the boys' ball hockey games. So fun to see them in action!

Carolyn and I on a Henry Moore at the AGO

Bryan outside Police Headquarters

We spent a lot of time in the car together and had time to discuss our third car situation. Our 2003 Passat has been running great until recently and was in need of a costly repair. Not wanting our kids to get stuck on a highway somewhere, we decided to trade it in. As soon as we got home Don and Carolyn went in search of hungry year-end car dealership negotiators. They found a deal they liked and came home a few hours later with a new Jetta. 

Our one-hour old Jetta

Now everyone is happy. And safe. And it gets good gas mileage!

I'm guessing this is the Easter photo

I LOVE this photo! Had to post. One of the sets of ears belongs to my friend, Col, who is sitting with the pink and purple side of her family. Precious!

Bro & Otis in SF

Otis sent me this photo from her San Francisco trip in March. She was out for a teachers' conference.  (She's now a Vice Principal in a Burlington school).  My brother, John, picked her up and took her on a tour of the city and over to Tiburon for dinner. This photo was taken in Tiburon with SF in the distant background.

They too were roommates at Western. When I moved out of our townhouse after graduating, John moved in. Then, when Carolyn moved out after she graduated, she moved in to an apartment with me in Mississauga.

It's great that they were able to get together and talk about old times!

Bryan turned 21 recently

Every birthday, anniversary, reunion, Christmas is an opportunity to step back from daily routine and to reflect on your memories of past birthdays, anniversaries, etc. The ultimate birthday to recall is the very birth day - the 0 years old birthday of your own children. Every birthday is a gift to celebrate. We are so proud of our 21 year old, not only because he has accomplished much, learned from his ups and downs, and isn't afraid of new challenges, but because he is a person people like to be around. And that's all I'll say. I'll keep the sappy stuff to myself!  

The weekend before Bryan's birthday we were at PSU for his fraternity's parent's day. It was a fun time, seeing Bryan and his friends again, playing games and enjoying a gourmet meal prepared by one of the boys! We surprised Bryan with a birthday cake. Here he is about to make a wish!  

March travel - Spain & France

I joined Don in the UK a few weeks ago for a little March traveling. He was there for a conference. I spent a day in London on my own, then we flew to Barcelona for a few days. What a great city! Lots to see and do. Lots of northerners there for the weekend - we met people from London, Liverpool and Finland. Took in the Gaudi architectural sites, the beach, Las Ramblas area (where our hotel was) and even some impromptu events. 

Two beach views in Barcelona

 Then we took a train up to Collioure, France, on the Mediterrean, that is one of the most beautiful towns I've seen - up there with Honfleur, France. We walked all over that town, including hiking up to a castle overlooking the area. There is a military training facility there so while we were soaking up the scenery, young men were doing drills along the little beach and in the water. 

Two views of Collioure - old town & new town

Next we took the train to Carcassonne - a town dominated by a huge medieval castle. We stayed just outside the castle walls but ate in the delicious restaurants each night. 

While in Carcassonne we rented a car. We drove south one day to hike up to the Chateau Peyrepertuse, a Cathar castle that is perched way too high on the edge of cliffs for a acrophobic like me!  Then we drove through and along the deepest gorge I've ever seen, stopping part way for a typical French picnic (cheese, bread, wine, chocolate!).  The next day we drove north to Albi - in the "red brick" region of France. Also stunningly beautiful.

Artwise we toured the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum in Albi. Plus, the town of Collioure was filled with framed posters of famous artists randomly placed on the streets throughout the town ... including lots of Matisse:

A Matisse hanging in the street in Collioure

We flew home from Toulouse. It was a interesting trip to a beautiful part of Europe. (Isn't it all beautiful over there?!)

Blog on!

My friend, Denise, who I met while working at Vz, got me into the 'blogosphere' several years ago when it was just becoming mainstream. One of the early and appealing examples at that time was dooce, written by Heather Armstrong. Another was PostSecret. I stuck with dooce for awhile, drawn into her stories by her clever, hilarious and sometimes shocking style. I haven't read her blog lately - although I have gone back for a quick read at times.

Denise just sent me a link to a NYTimes story about blogging, and in particular, about dooce, that chronicles Heather's continued success. Cool. Read this article and maybe you'll be blogging too - if you're not already! Cha-ching!

Sleeping Gills

Just because I have sleeping photos ...

Bryan & Carolyn in car on way to Toronto

Toby & I watching a movie

Don reading 

What have we learned in 2,064 years?

Here it is:    

  "The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled,
   public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be
   tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should
   be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to
   work, instead of living on public assistance." 
                                          -   Cicero   - 55 BC

So, evidently nothing.

Christmas 2010

Obviously I'm a bit late in posting Christmas photos but better late than never. We had our tree up and decorated before Bryan and Carolyn arrived home from school. This year our tree was decorated by Don for the first time ever and he did a great job.  He had fun reminiscing through the various ornaments that we've picked up during vacations throughout the years. Usually its Carolyn and I who get excited as we unwrap our favorite ornaments but she was away and I was not feeling great the night we were decorating. The other thing is that this year we decided to get a small tree. Well, thanks to our friend Randy, we had a tree waiting in our driveway one day that was huge - our biggest yet! Don had to go out to buy a new stand for it before we could bring it in!  It was beautiful! Here's Don on top of a 5' ladder.

On the 23rd the four of us went to see Spider-man Turn off the Dark on Broadway. This was the first performance after the terrible accident that occurred two days prior when a stunt man fell something like 30' and was badly injured. The show was originally supposed to open around Thanksgiving when I bought our tickets, but delay after delay meant that we were now seeing a preview show. (The opening has now been pushed to March, I think!) The effects are exciting and very cool. The story is just over complicated and slow. And the music was just okay - not an amazing experience that we were expecting. Glad we saw it, but it definitely needs work! We stayed overnight in the city and spent part of Christmas Eve walking around the Village but it was COLD!

Christmas dinner is always a highlight for us. Here we are after dinner - satiated and content!

On Boxing day we drove north for four days in Ontario visiting H&B, my parents, and Don's sisters and their families.The best part was that we completely missed the first big snowstorm here in the northeast. We arrived in Mississauga to NO snow. Ingersoll had a lot more but roads were good throughout our travels.

First to Mississauga. We visited H&B who are doing well. After a delicious dinner we took a small pictures. Guess what we gave H&B this year?  Yes, we are a Penn State family!

Bryan, Dad, Mom, Carolyn - all showing their PSU pride

I have more pictures from Mississauga and none from Ingersoll where my bro-in-law, Doug, was the official photographer and was supposed to send to me ... so I will rattle his cage and post those photos shortly.  Just one more to put up ...

Carolyn & Brian

And now I can say, while its still January (barely), Happy New Year!