Saturday, March 24, 2007

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

As you can see here we are in New Orleans just havin' some fun! This was taken by another tourist while Donna, me and Cher were at Harrah's Casino. Yes I played the slots, and yes I lost. But it was fun! and the money is very welcome in New Orleans. During the day Donna and Cher had to sit in stuffy rooms and attend a Medical Conference while I did the tourist thing. But when night fell, the girls went out!! I think that night we were out until about 2AM. Started out at Harrah's, then after some drinks, watching a live trio during the Motown Decade, and me loosing money$, we headed down to the French Quarter and the infamous Bourbon St. The Jazz bands were great! lots of music, lights, people, beads, beads and more beads.......vibrant colors, alot of police presence which was comforting and just a great time. This was a week after Mardi Gras and there was still plenty of life (alot of Medical Conferences were in town that week).
More to come.....!

Muffuletta!

Cher and just one section of the infamous Muffuletta! Even the wrapping is big enough to make a shirt out of.
What is a Muffuletta you say?.................Just the BEST signature sandwich of New Orleans. (Just as good as the New Orleans Roast Beef Po-boy) As you can see the Muffuletta is one big honkin' sandwich!

It was actually "created" in 1906 at the Central Grocery in the French Quarter. The sandwich consists of the round loaft of crusty Italian Bread, split and filled with layers of sliced Provolone cheese, Genoa salami and Cappicola ham, topped with Olive Salad: a chopped mixture of green, unstuffed olives, pimentos, celery, garlic, cocktail onions, capers, oregano, parsley, olive oil, red-wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Yum!

If you ever get to New Orleans you gotta try one! Usually it will feed four people, each section is so big!

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

First Day of Spring??

View from the back porch, the deck is still covered! I feel some "shoveling" coming soon :(
As you can see the first day of Spring here in New England has a ways to go! This is from the snow that we got blasted with on St. Patrick's Day. Now comes the fun part........it is suppose to get into the 50's and possibly around 60 degrees this week, so you know what happens next.....all this snow will melt and it will be a muddy mess! Yes folks here in New England they have 5 seasons a year. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Mud season! But alas with all this water we will have green grass and pretty flowers in no time!!

Monday, March 19, 2007

The world was moving but I wasn't looking..

I haven't blogged in a long, long time. Didn't really think alot was going on in my life to do so. But when I was listening to a friend the other day recount all that has gone on in the last few months, I realized there had been alot going on.
First of all as you know my wonderful Nanny (Grandmother) passed away this past Dec. 1st. After the funeral, I then had to get my mother moved into a one bedroom apartment. My Mom and grandmother had lived together for almost 14 years in a 2 bedroom apartment. Luckily for my Mom there was a one bedroom apartment available in the same building where she lives. Going through all the things that through the years she and my grandmother had collected was very time consuming. I cannot tell you how many trips I made to the dumpster, the new apartment with boxes, furniture ( I bought a furniture dolly that ended up being a God send!) Cher and I moved and boxed, cleaned and sorted, saved and threw away, kept for memories, etc. It took every weekend in the month of December for me to get all this done. My Mom moved into her new apartment in January 2007. I got her cable TV so she could watch her favorite shows (her and Nanny didn't have cable), bought her a new recliner to be comfortable in, new towels, etc. all for her new apartment. She needed so much NEW things, all the old and worn out, were tossed out! There was so much paperwork to go through, the bank, calling Social Security, etc. all the things that just have to be done. Thank goodness my Nanny was pretty much organized and I found alot of her paperwork rather quickly.
Christmas was ok, not like in the past where I would have one or both of my sons come to visit. This year they couldn't.......Joey just getting married last July, this was his first Christmas as a married man! Allen is doing ok, moved into some assisted independent living on a trial basis, and as of right now, it is a day to day process as to see if he can live there on his own. He is taking a horticulture class which he seems to like.
Also we received some very sad news, Erin's Dad (Joey's wife) Rick was diagnosed with a brain tumor 2 weeks before Christmas. Rick was such a wonderful human being.!He was strong with his faith in God, the love and support of his family and friends, and sad for all of us, but he was ready and he went to heaven just a couple of weeks ago.'
I was down in New Orleans when this happened, and when I got back to Massachusetts, I couldn't get off of work to go back down to Virginia for his funeral.
Cher's family is still having alot of health issues. Her Mom has to have a total knee replacement, her Dad is still totally dependent on his family for just about everything. He has to get his blood tested every week as he has a slow bleed, and then blood transfusions when he is getting low. Kenny is on the mend, slowly, still hasn't gone back to work in the fire department, he had his accident on Halloween and is just now walking without the help of a walker or his cane.
Last week Cher got the stomach flu very bad! She was out of work for 2 days, and let me just say she was spending alot of time with the porceline Goddess! I got a touch of it this past Saturday but not to the extent of what Cher did and I am feeling a little bit better.
I have been scrapbooking, I have so many projects that I haven't even finished yet, like my son's wedding, New York City (last year visit) New Orleans, and just alot of pictures that I really need to do.
Dabbled a little with making bracelets and such. I haven't done that in a while.
Cher and I have discovered the worlds best pizza! It is at JP's in Holyoke, MA......it is a white pizza with shrimp and fresh spinach! Needless to say we like going to JP's! Kenny , Michael and Kim are there sometimes too and we have a good time. We went for St. Patricks Day and it was packed!!
The kitty's are doing fine.......spoiled as ever and the snow is still on the ground here. We got walloped on Valentines Day this year and again on St. Patricks Day (over a foot).....so everything is still white and cold. I am getting alittle bit tired of this snow ya know.
I will be posting and showing some pictures of New Orleans. While I was down there I did the tourist thing........Cher and Donna (another nurse from the Hartford Ins. Co. where Cher works) were in classes and conferences all day. I took some tours in the city during the day. At night we went out to taste the wonders of New Orleans cooking, listened to all the lively music, Jazz, etc. did the Bourbon St. and French Quarter thing.....but all that will be on another post and also of alligators eating marshmallows and Muffalattas! (not sure if I spelled that right)...
Until then, this is the latest update in a while.........but I will be writing more.......til then.............have a great day!

Friday, December 08, 2006

My Nanny and Me


Just look at her, My Nanny, she was so tickled on her 97th birthday! You can see the smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes. She loved her animal ballons and her little monkey on her lap. She laughed and smiled all day. I miss her!!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

How do you say good bye....

To my Nanny with her bird, she had a cat but it passed away and she was heartbroken so her daughter, my Mom gave her a little birdie for her birthday a year ago. Her chair (which was my grandfathers) her bird and the TV remote...............that's my Nanny!!
....To my Nanny and her favorite "cooking channel" Buddy Cher. The would sit together every Saturday that we went to RI to visit and watch Lydia and others on the cooking channel. Nanny loved to cook!! Last month she made us lasagna and 2 weeks before her passing to animal heaven she had made us a yummy beef stew! She was forever the hostess. I am gonna miss her cooking!
To the Greatgrandmother of my 2 sons, here she is with Joey, you can sure tell she is a proud
Greatgrandmother! Those 2 make quite a pair! I don't know who is more the cut-up! Joey must have gotten some of his sense of humor from her. Nanny had her silliness, laughter, jokes, even in the final days of her pain. She was always wanting to give of herself in one way or another.
...To my Nanny (Grandmother) Lea Galligan, also a Mother and a Greatgrandmother! She may be the smallest of the bunch, but she was heard the loudest and was our center of her attention.
....To my Nanny that went grocery shopping every Sunday, the cart just about swallowed her! But she was determined to be in control (as always!) She was a short little grandmother all of 4' 4", and she has this cane (see it hanging on the basket handle?) if she needed something on the top shelf, she wouldn't ask for help.....OH NO!, she would eye her prey(poor papertowel or toilet paper) , get a grip on the cane handle ....then WHAP!!!", the unaware object was hurled into the air til it fell and she would retrieve it then throw it in the basket. No one was safe. She also had a habit, God forbid if anyone left their cart in the middle of the isle while they were shopping...........if she saw it and it was alone, she RAMMED! it with her cart to get it out of the way. She was a hoot! She didn't like me hanging around or Cher when we would take her to the grocery store, so we would hide behind an isle and peek at her to make sure she was ok. She never let anyone do her shopping...."You don't know what I want" she would say.

....To the Grandmother that kept us all laughing and in good spirits, she was such a cut up!!
.....To my Nanny who got the biggest smile, laugh and "God Love "em" out of a stuffed animal. She had her collection, some were sent to her by the organizations she donated to, others were given to her by family and friends. They are with her now and always will be..........in Animal Heaven!!
.....To the silly, happy, sneaky(yes I said sneaky, and she could be at times, in a good way) and lovable grandmother she was, the life of the party, the source of many hours of entertainment, her songs (she would sing some song in French), her Mother taught it to her and she didn't know how to sing it in English, as with her prayers when she was young.

The baseball fanatic...................she LOVED the Brooklyn Dodgers and always Will!! Do you know she won a contest one year , the prize being $500 which was alot back in the 40's. She bought a TV (they only had a radio) just to watch her Brooklyn Dodgers! She was a happy woman!!

...To my 1 curler head Nanny (she had to look her best to do her Sunday shopping at the Stop and Shop Grocery Store) , the BEST grandmother I have known for 50 years (she is 97) of my life. Her funny laughter, the sparkle in her eyes while she was telling a story, her stubborness (and I mean STUBBORN!). Her stories of her life growing up with 8 siblings, her wonderful tales of flour sack "undies" that her Mother made, to the worries when Grandpa G. was fighting over in Europe in WWII while she was living in the projects in Brooklyn , New York raising 2 small children (my Mom and Uncle).
How do I say good bye to a humorous, emotional, ever devout in her faith, her love of her family and of course animals! Do you know she has contributed to the safe and well-being of animals, the shelters and homes. She actually got a 50 year "chip" from one of the many humane societies that she gave unselfishly too. She was a woman of modest means, living on a very small income, but she was always the first to give of her money and her heart, and sometimes even at her own comfort.

With her I know I don't have to say good-bye..........So with all my Love, Respect and knowing you are where you want to be now in Animal Heaven surrounds by all the soft furry things you loved here on earth..................See You Later Nanny, I surely Love and Miss you.

Friday, September 29, 2006

A field of beauties

Erin and her girls.......aren't they lovely!


Hint: back stroke Posted by Picasa

Thursday, September 28, 2006

A Classic Picture

This is such a beautiful classic picture of the Bride Erin, one final look before she gets married. Isn't she BEAUTIFUL!!

Hint: no more headaches Posted by Picasa

Escorting Mom

Here is the Groom, my son Joey, escorting me to my seat before he gets married. Isn't he handsome!! In the background in the light tan suit is my other son Allen. I was sure a proud Mom that day!!


Hint : 1 month free Posted by Picasa

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Rain or Shine..

With the thread of possible rain on the wedding day, I bought these umbrella hats for the groomsmen "just in case". It didn't rain during the ceremony but I just had to get a picture with the guys and their "hats" . Posted by Picasa

Monday, September 04, 2006

Rehersal Day

Friday July 21st was a day of friends, family, laughter, some crying too! Here is Erin with her 2 nephews (the 2 on her right), Jack (the little guy) and Colin.
Erin giving instructions to her Ring Bearers........her nephews, Colin and Jack.
Sharing a laugh and just enjoying the day!
The girls are ready and anxious to start the rehersal! Posted by Picasa

The Wedding party

Everyone was waiting around for the rehersal to begin. The chairs were set. Later on a tent would be added as a last minute measure, as showers were predicted "just in case". It was so hot and sunny anyway it was good that the tent was put up later, it shaded everyone. Posted by Picasa

The outside at the Rockwood

The land and surrounding area were breathtaking and beautiful around the Rockwood Manor as you can see on Rehersal Day. Posted by Picasa

Groomsmen have a laugh

While the guys were waiting for the ladies to come down the isle during the rehersal, they all shared in stories and a laugh or two. Posted by Picasa

Practice, practice

After repeating their vows and Scott the preacher saying his words, they were about to walk down the isle... Posted by Picasa

Bride to be and her Maid of Honor

Part of the rehersal of course were the ladies. Here Erin (the bride) holds her corsage of "flowers" and Lauren her Maid of Honor holding the umbrella for her. It was very hot and humid with a chance of showers everyday. Posted by Picasa

Rehersal Day before the Wedding

On rehersal day (Friday) the weather was warm and humid. Here is a picture of one of the Wedding Coordinators giving directions to the Groomsmen.

Hint: 2 day 20 Posted by Picasa

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Biking

Yes even me, the "non exercise" girl still gets out and goes biking once in a while. This was taken up in Quabbin. Posted by Picasa

My Nanny and me

Here I am with my Nanny on her 97th Birthday! I also brought her lunch of some of her favorites, shrimp, honey and BBQ chicken, salads (potato and tortellini) and of course the Carvel Birthday cake. Posted by Picasa

The Birthday Girl at 97!

Here she is Lea Galligan with all her birthday goodies, flowers, ballons, her new little monkey, a box of candy and birthday cards were all given to her on her big day. Posted by Picasa