Presenting to you the 2009 Westfield Colleen Court

Here they are! The 2009 Westfield MA Colleen and her Court. In the background is a mural of Ireland. This was taken at the Sons of Erin last night at the "Meet the Colleen and her Court Dinner". Aren't they the Irish beauties of thier ancestors!!

2 Beauties

Last night Cher, Cher's Mom, Lil (a friend of Cher's Mom) and I went to a dinner at the Son's of Erin in Westfield, MA. called "Meet the Colleens Dinner". Emily (Cher's niece) and Mrs. Wagner's youngest granddaughter of the Wagner Clan was nominated into the "Colleen Court". Every year in the cities of Massachusetts have Irish Colleen contestants and then the winner picked along with her Colleen girls (the court). They represent the Irish Heritage of our Irish past and represent the city in which they come from.
As you see in the picture here is a very proud Grandma with her Colleen...2 beauties. We had a great time, they had the traditional Irish band and singing, the traditional Irish dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage. Irish dancing, raffle prizes, the nominating and introducing of the Parade Marshall for 2009. It was a great time to be had by all! The St Patricks Day parade held each year in Holyoke MA will be Sunday March 22, 2009. Emily will be in it with the Westfield Colleen and her court.

"My Dearest Clara"

Here are a couple of post cards that Harry wrote to Clara while he was serving in WWI. Look at the dates on the cards, 12 Dec., 1916 and 26 June, 1917. In the postcard on the left if you read it (click on picture to enlarge) you can see what I now know, Clara is his sweetheart, not his wife. Also in some of the other post cards they were addressed to Ms. Clara Hollywood, who's maiden name was my great-grandmother Mary Agnes (Hollywood) Galligan.

I still haven't had time to research Harry and find out what his last name was.

This is a love story unfolding before me and I am so excited to learn more about Clara and Harry! Hopefully this weekend I will have more time to dig around and see what I can find.

I'll keep you posted!

Clara and Harry

A WWI Postcard from Harry to Clara



Just who are Clara and Harry? Let me tell you how I found out about them. I was at my Mom's Saturday in Rhode Island and we were going through some paperwork, albums and such. I happened upon an album and when I opened it there were the most beautiful postcards I had ever seen! I asked my Mom about them and she told me they were from some relative(s) during WWI. I had to check them out! She really didn't know that much about them, I wish my Nanny was still alive, I am sure she would have known all about them and had some wonderful stories to tell.


I started reading them, they were all mostly from Harry to Clara. See it seems that Harry was a soldier in WWI and Clara was either his wife or his sweetheart. He would write to her and let her know how he was doing and how he missed her. As I kept reading it was really more like a diary of this soldier over in France longing for his sweetheart. They were the most endearing post cards alway starting with "My Dearest Clara".


Clara Hollewood or (Hollywood) was a relative from Ireland on my Grandfather, Gerald Maurice Galligan's side of the family, I have figured out that much. I am not sure but I think Harry must have been from Ireland also, maybe Clara and Harry met in Ireland.

Some of the post cards were addressed to Clara at the Ivy Hotel, Dublin Ireland. I do know that my great-grandmother that came over from Ireland had owned and run a hotel in Ireland with her husband, my great-grandfather who was killed because of the Catholic/Protestant conflict over there. My great-grandmother fled Ireland as a young widow with her 3 young sons, my grandfather being one of them. They came to America. I am not sure in what year, I will have to dig more to find that out.

Anyway, as I try and dig more and deeper to find out the story of Clara and Harry, their love and postcards I will keep you posted!

I've decided I need to blog more, just so everyone knows what is going on up here in Massachusetts..........as you can see I have posted a picture of Bailey taken by the staff of It's PAWSible where Bailey goes to Doggy Day Care 2 days a week. She loves it there!

Bailey and I went to see Spike yesterday at the Soldiers Home, but by the time we got there he was just being put down for a nap. Cher and Michael were already there. Bailey did get to give "Grandpa" a doggy kiss though before he fell asleep.

We will go see him again today.

The snow here is STILL here and will be until April I do believe. It still amazes me how it just stays and doesn't melt away. (It's to cold up here!)

Work has been busy, we are learning a new computer software system for our practice and it will all be electronic, so eventually there will be no more charts or paper. (this ought to be fun, the techie that I am........NOT!)
I have been to a training class and actually in theory it looks really great and alot more efficient than all the paper trailing we do now.....it will just take time.

I haven't been to RI in a few weeks to visit with my Mom, the weather has been to bad for the drive, but hopefully I will get to go next weekend to see her. I do talk to her every evening on the phone though, so we are in contact daily so I know how she is doing.

My daughter-in-law's (Erin) birthday is coming up really soon! I forget every year, but this year I have marked it down as not to miss her special day!!

I have been reading alot this winter, I had recieved Barnes and Noble gift cards for some of my Christmas presents this year, and I have enjoyed using them! Right now I am reading books by the author Wally Lamb, he is a great writer. I just finished "She's Come Undone" and am looking forward to his next book.

If you get a chance check out one of my Links........Julia W. , as I said she is in Paris France continuing her studies and she has a blog also on her adventures and studies in Europe! She is having a great time there!

Well until I blog again.................toodles :)

A Wagner Christmas

Christmas 2008 at the Holyoke Soldiers Home with the Wagner Family (some of them anyway, there are lots!)
We have from left to right.........Kenny Wagner, "Spike" Wagner, Alma Wagner, Cher Wagner, and Santa Claus in Cher's lap is really Bailey .......couldn't tell huh?
There was lots of good times that day, the food, presents and just being together. They are such a special family.

As I write this on 1/24/09, after the new year, Amanda (Kenny's 1st daughter) is a nurse at Baystate, Julia (2nd daughter) is in Paris, France, continuing her education with 4 months abroad in her 2nd year in college originally from St. John's University in New York.
And Emily (3rd daughter) is a Senior in high school at Westfield HS. She will be graduating this year and who knows what the future holds for her.

Michael, the other Wagner son, is not in the picture but he is the baby of the 3.........Cher, Kenny then Michael.


As of now, Spike has been back and forth between the Soldiers Home and Mercy Hospital, he kept getting pneumonia and he is not doing well. He is back at the Soldiers Home as of yesterday and the family continues to be there for him, support him and love him.

I will go visit Spike later today, I will see the rest of the Wagner family there.

I'll try and do some more blogging soon..........
til then........toodles.

My poor Boy!

Here is my Felix, he had eye surgery and had to have one of his eyes removed (his right eye) He is at home recooperating and getting lots of TLC! He is on medicine and is resting comfortably as you can see. He had a stage II cataract, and was already blind in that eye. The vet suggested that the eye be taken out (it was very large and swollen) as if it was left in to further deteriorate, it could then start causing him possible pain and discomfort and then become tumorous and cancerous. I didn't want that to happen to my poor boy!! So best the eye was taken out. He hasn't had any adjustments as he was already blind in that eye and so he doesn't know the difference. He will go back to the vets on June 23rd for the "kitty opthomologist" to take out his stitches and check him out. I love my Felix!!!

Bailey

Introducing Bailey! She is my new daughter :) I adopted her from the Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Shelter in Springfield MA.
They told me she is a chihuahua and minature pincher mix, approximately 2 years old.

She is so cute! and so lovable! She loves the cats , which they are not to sure about just yet.
I'll post more pictures soon!

First Snow 2007

So we had our first big snow storm Thurs. Dec. 14th, 2007. As you can see it was about a foot! I took this picture of the house as I was leaving the driveway for work. As you may have heard we are in for another blast tonight starting around midnight, but this one will also bring rain, sleet, ice with the snow. Ice is not good! I already fell once, I was getting the mail out of the mail box and trying oh so gingerly to walk back to the house. Slip! Bam! Down I went! Luckily nothing broke, just alittle pride as I looked around to see if any of the neighbors saw me sprawled out on the driveway, leopard umbrella (yes it was still snowing) flying one way and the mail from my other hand flying another into the snow. Hurt my right wrist and shoulder a little as I went down, but not to worry, I am fine.

VMG Girls

The VMG
Girls

These pictures are for you Marcia, as you can see Linda and the 2 little ones are growing! Isn't she cute!! See Kris in the background? She was wondering what I was up too. :)

And here are some of the other girls waving hello to you Marcia!! from the front line in Family Practice. They say
HOWDY!

I stopped by the Lab and caught Ms. Elizabeth, she said to say hello to you Marcia!!

And here is the infamous Judy working, I actually got a picture of her and she didn't know it. I told her later that
I had taken her picture and she said "When?"..........and when I told her she said "Well at least you got a picture of me when I was actually working!" Next time I will catch her at the snack machine where she usually is :)


I will get more as time goes by so you can see everyone at VMG. They all said to say hello to you and asked how you are doing down there in the south. I told them and let them know we keep in touch . They miss you too!!

"Big Red"

Well here she is folks.........."Big Red". I finally had to part with my little white Metro LSI 2000, to many things were going wrong with her and she wasn't reliable anymore.

I had seen "Big Red" online when I was shopping around for cars......used cars. I went to different dealerships, looked and and drove different cars but something wasn't exactly "right".

I knew why, she wasn't RED. As you may not know my favorite color is red. And my favorite color combination is red and black. So after looking and trying out different dealerships and cars, I floated back to the car I had looked at in the first place.

And so here she is..............."Big Red!" as we all like to call her. Of course I have leoparded (is that a word? it is in my dictionary!) her up...........got the leopard steering wheel cover going on, the leopard seat covers, the cat paw print license plate covers (enlarge the pictue and you will see it on the license plate) and just the other day my leopard floor mats came in the mail!! I have my little leopard buddy "Leo" who is sitting in the back seat. With winter coming, as you can see by the snow on the ground, I went to Advance Auto Parts and Cher bought me clear floor mats to cover my leopard ones, I don't want them to get all muddy and wet with the winter weather here. I had her windows tinted (to save Sun damage on her inside) and I had the automatic car starter installed, like I had in my other car. It is a MUST here in New England. It is so much nicer to get in a car that is already toasty and warmed up inside. So if any one has any other leopard "car goodies" that I can add to Big Red, send them my way! Oh yea, I am looking for some black magnetic "paws" that I can put on the back of Big Red........:)

Later!

Crock season!

Yes folks..........it is Crock Season again! With the temps. getting lower, the Fall breezes it is time to dust off the Crock Pot!............days when you don't feel like startin' up the grill (by the way, the grill is GREAT to use year 'round).........you can put anything in the ole' pot..........pork roast or ribs, chicken or stew meat and add all your favorite seasonings and ingredients..............MMmmmm! Good! do it first thing in the morning and when you get home from work Wha La! you have the most mouth watering, dripping off the bone, melt in your mouth.........dinner! Easy clean up too! Just pop a few biscuits in the oven and you have a hearty Fall meal. Ahhh.................I love Fall! with all of its beautiful crisp leaf changing colors, the brisk fresh air.........pumpkins beginning to show up on stoops of homes, kids getting excited about Trick or Treating........the smell of cinnamon and apples baking.
So don't forget Crock season............and get Crockin"!!

More pics of the inside of the cottage

Here is more of a view of inside the living area.

This picture shows you the 3 doors leading into the 3 bedrooms of the cottage. The front bedroom and back bedroom have full size beds and the middle room.........has bunk beds. Up to 6 people are allowed to stay at the cottage at one time.

More on the cottage

Now I take you for a short tour of the cottage, this is the living area, the table is over by the window for 2 reasons (usually it is more in the center of the living area)..........one because at night I put the air mattress down to sleep on, and as you can see there is plenty of space. Two............it is great in the morning to sit at the table and see nature (skunks and bunnies) .....see the sun come up and feel the warm salt breeze. In the background you can see where the kitchen is............it has a back door leading out to the back yard where there is a picnic table and an outdoor shower area. Around the refridgerator (see it?) to the left is where the bathroom is.

This is another shot from the living area, looking out towards the front door.

This is the small kitchen area.....................there is a stove and refrigerator in there, I just couldn't get it in the picture because of the angle.

Living area again...............showing the couch at the front window.

So as you can see, the cottage is rustic, but cute and perfect for the beach!!

The cottage

I know everyone is anxiously anticipating on just what kind of cottage and what it looks like .................well here it is.......small but cute! More pictures to follow soon of the inside and some of the rooms .

Day 2 at the Beach!

Monday morning arrived with alot of noise outside the cottage................next door the Septic Truck arrived! to do it's job and right across the street a construction crew was busy with starting to "raise" a cottage. Needless to say it was all very loud and very smelly!

Luckily the Septic Tank did it's job rather quickly and then left. "Ahhh"............the smell of fresh septic sewage instead of the fresh early morning salt sea air to waft in the windows in the morning to start your day!

Cher and I had our morning coffee sitting on the front porch of the cottage and then decided it was time to go to the beach! So again I made sandwiches, plenty of water, other snacks and loaded them all into the cooler, gathered our beach chairs, blanket, towels, suited up and we were off! leaving the contruction crew to work on the cottage across the street!

I can only Imagine...

This is one of the most moving and inspirational testimonies of a Father's Love.......enjoy and reflect. I cry everytime I see it.........it will move you also to tears.

YouTube - Team Hoyt - Dick and Rick Hoyt

Beach Time!

So on August 25th Cher and I ventured to Matunuck Beach RI for a week of fun, relaxation and just laying around on the beach.
Saturday night we rolled in and the whole place was fogged in, but not to worry, we were on vacation! and that didn't matter at all.
Sunday morning brought a beautiful sunrise with the promise of temps in the upper 70's and low humidity. Yay!
We had gone to the local grocery store and purchased some food (some we had already brought with us) to stock up for the week, mostly breakfast and lunch items, as we had planned on dining out in the evenings at the local resturants in the area to get some great seafood! The place was wonderful, just a little beach cottage directly across from the beach. It has a great front porch for sitting out on to read, just watch the seagulls, the locals and any activity that was going on at the time. The cottage has 3 bedrooms, a small but cute and efficient kitchen, a bathroom and the living room area. It was all very "cottage" and very clean. The only thing it didn't have was air conditioning, but not to worry, it is cooler by the beach and we had fans..........2 borrowed by a friend Donna. Thanks Donna! they were a Godsend! It would have been pretty bad without fans. The beds were uncomfortable for me, old cottage beds that were kinda lumpy with springs. Not to worry again, I brought the trusty air mattress, and it worked just great in the living room area. The first couple of nights I didn't sleep to well, all the windows were open for that fresh sea air breeze, but I could not get over the uncomfortable feeling of someone trying to break in............just a trama from my past that creeps up on me in a situation like this.
Anyway...........after the 3rd night I slept much better and enjoyed the windows being open and taking in all the fresh salt air.
Cher on the other hand was not bothered at all by the beds, so she slept in the front bedroom which has 2 windows, so she got fresh air too!
I still woke up early like I do at home, can't seem to break that habit, even on vacation or the weekends, but it didn't take me long to fall back to sleep for an early morning nap before the sun came up. What a beautiful sight that is........to feel the fresh morning air, smell the fresh sea winds, have a cup of coffee all on the front porch in my PJ's! as the sun is rising. Our plans for the first day was just to suit up, pack a cooler with sandwiches and other goodies, beach chairs, blankets, sunscreen, books, LOTS of water and head to the beach! It was great.........the beach was not crowded the whole week we were there (guess everyone else was at Cape Cod :) ).......you could spread out your beach blanket, unfold the chairs, put up the beach umbrella, get out a book and just relax as the waves crashed in front of you, the sand sifting through your toes, seagulls flying here and there along the beach, watch the boats out in the water and the other people on the beach. There were a few people up on the balconey of one of the local resturants that over look the ocean. It was just great and so relaxing!!
There were some surfers there too, we watched them as they rode the waves and paddled out again, over and over.
That night after we got back to the cottage, showered and changed into clothes, we headed to the local resturant.......Joyces Family Pub.....it is right on the beach, very rustic. Then was the decision on what to eat. A firefighter named Brian that also works there as the chef came over to us to take our order. He wanted to know if we wanted clam chowder. I scrinched up my nose and said "no thanks, yuck, I don't like clam chowder." He said "you haven't tasted mine yet" with a sly smile. Cher ordered some as she LOVES clam chowder and he brought me a "sample", well let me tell you, I LOVED his clam chowder! It was great and the next night we stopped by on our way to the cottage after an afternoon outing and ordered more To Go! We had gone by another local eattery and purchased the BEST Lobster rolls in all of New England I do believe. We had a feast that night.

Anyway, getting back to the first night..............I ordered some fried shrimp (it was ok but not the best I have ever had) and Cher ordered a Ruben. We were tired after our first day at the beach, sun tired you would say, but relaxed and fresh, so after dinner we went back to the cottage for the night.

Next blog.............Second day at the beach-Monday-cottage raising and Septic Truck "parfume"? "Whew"!!

Hokie Ribbons

Tonight I sat down and made Hokie Ribbons. Tomorrow is National Maroon and Orange (the colors of the Virginia Tech Hokies) and in honor of them everyone is asked to wear the Hokie colors of Maroon and Orange. I told people at work about it, and some said they would gladly wear the colors, while others told me they didn't have anything to wear Maroon and Orange. WaaLaa! Hokie Ribbons........Made with Maroon and Orange silk (only the best for the Hokie colors) ribbon and a little "bling". So I will pass them out tomorrow for who ever would like to wear the colors in honor, respect and support of all the people who died at Virginia Tech on April 16th.
Wear your colors and remember all the innocent victims and their families.

Fun times at VT

Here is my son Joey (on the left) with his fellow Hokies, Monica and Jeff!! He has wonderful memories and friends from VT.
Once a Hokie ALWAYS a Hokie..! He is very active being an Alumni and will host a dinner tonight for his fellow "brother" Erin Peterson as she would have become in life. The gang will be there to honor her in life and now in heaven.