Christmas 2007

Another Christmas has come and gone and I hope everyone had a nice time. For me, it was one of the most enjoyable Christmas’s I’ve had in recent years. This year, I had the unusual experience of enjoying Christmas on the double. On Sunday 23, I had Christmas dinner with my eldest son and his family. This arrangement came about to facilitate my son having Christmas dinner with his children who would not be with him on Christmas Day.

We were joined by the children’s only other surviving grandparent - their grandmother, Alice. It was a marvellous day. The dinner was prepared by my granddaughter Mari. In truth, all the family gave a hand in the preparation but Mari was the main architect. And, what a terrific job she did. My other granddaughter Deirdre added her own touch of excellence to the meal by preparing the dessert, which was a tasty dish consisting of stewed apple with fruit stuffing.

All Hands On Deck, Deirdre, Mari, John, Michael, Patrick

On Christmas Day, I had dinner at my daughter’s house. Added to the pleasure of this was that I got to meet another one of my granddaughters who was back home for the holiday from her job in Germany.

Granddaughter Emer

All in all, it was a very nice Christmas, but today was tinged with a little sadness because this evening some of the grandchildren returned to their various work locations - two of them to Dublin and one to Germany. Granddaughter Mari, the architect of the first of our Christmas dinners, is now in Canada. Still, it was a nice day. All the family gathered for 9am Mass this morning, after which, we had breakfast at my son’s house before saying our goodbyes.
It’s now Sunday night and I am ensconced in my newly decorated sitting room reflecting on a very happy Christmas and looking forward to dinner on New Year’s Day at my daughter’s house. Did I tell you I am blessed with a great family?

Nenagh Christmas Lights

Interestingly, Judy and I had a conversation this day about what constitutes success in life. Is it arriving at a time in your life with a large amount of wealth? Our discussion ranged around a lot of things that we could consider success. I offered the opinion that if wealth was the only criteria, then, alas, I, for one, haven’t had much success in life. On the other hand, I thought that parents bringing up a devoted family and them, in turn, bringing up a family that is a credit to all must surely be one of the greatest measurements of success.

Another Nenagh Street Scene

The Sign Says, Merry Christmas Fom Nenagh

I would like to wish my readers a very Happy New Year.

House Improvements

Those last few weeks since arriving home from America, and in between the more important work of getting some posts done, I have been carrying out modifications and, what I hope are improvements to the house. Where will it end? I don’t know. Hopefully, this present spate of work will be the end, but then I have been known to make that observation before.

I have carried out a lot of work (too numerous and boring to mention) to the house since I bought it a year ago last July. I don’t know why I’m doing this – the house was in perfect condition when I bought it - apart from a few small jobs that really needed attention.

To date, I have put down new floor covering in the kitchen. It’s a pretty large kitchen and I have carpeted half of it to turn it into a nice dining area. The cooking area, I have re floored with wood-effect vinyl.

I am now on my third suite of sitting room furniture. There was a nice suite in the house when I arrived here and as a consequence of my brilliant bargaining skills, I got the vendor to include it in the price of the house. Lucky me!! Lucky him!! I soon discovered that all I had done was saved him the cost of moving it to the rubbish tip. Yes, it looked nice ok but I soon discovered that appearances can be deceiving. While it certainly looked nice and indeed, the armchairs were quite comfortable, I soon noticed that the settee was anything but. I acquired this piece of knowledge by noticing that anyone who sat on it seemed, after a short space of time, to have difficulty disguising their discomfort. I think of Judy, especially, who used to sit on it with her computer when she and Tom were here last year. I’m sorry Judy for your discomfort and, I know, I should have adhered to what you always say- “sit on it first before you buy it”. Really good advice, but then I’m sure you have heard the saying “never look a gift horse in the mouth”.

Anyway, I’m not going to go through the processes that have brought me to acquire the suite I have now. It’s beautiful brown leather and fits the room perfectly. It’s expensive but it hasn’t cost me any more than if I bought it the first day because I have acquired it by a method of “trading up” with the same furniture supplier that I have known for some time. In fact, when I did the maths before I bought it, I discovered that after all the trading I am well ahead. And I sat on all the chairs too to ensure their comfort before I had it installed. Thank you Judy for that sound bit of advice (she made me write that).

So, now the furniture is installed and all seems well. One problem!! Now the carpet doesn’t look right, nor do the window curtains. I never particularly liked either of those but I had decided I could live with them but, the installation of the furniture has changed all that. There is only one thing for it now. A complete re design is the order of the day. This is where I recruit some help and who better than my good friend Judy. So with the aid of modern technology, to communicate between Minnesota and Nenagh, we embarked on the plan to give my room a complete makeover.

Out goes the carpet and curtains. My own carefully thought-out ideas for the refurbishment of the room are dismissed politely but firmly. I am now in the hands of a power greater than myself. Pictures of different carpet colours and textures are transmitted across the lines and eventually we choose a nice beige carpet with brown interwoven flecks. This I was reliably told would pick up the colour of the seats. Who am I to argue?

Another family friend, who is of a similar mindset to Judy when it comes to decorating, helped me choose and hang the curtains. They look great!!

Well, the job is now finished and I’m quite pleased with the result. My sincere thanks to Judy and Monica for all your help and expertise.

Oh, I nearly forgot. My Christmas decorations!! Yes, in the misdt of all the decorating, I managed to get my Christmas decorating done. My “giant” Christmas tree is now shining brightly in the window and is a beacon to all who pass the way.

Merry Christmas everyone.

View of front window showing my newly acquired curtains

My favourite addition to my room, picture of Derek holding my hand as we go to collect the mail during my last visit to Minnesota.

Pictures From America Visit

www.flickr.com joemw39's South Carolina photoset

Pictures From America Visit

Please click here to view some more pictures from my visit to America. I have posted some pictures that I hope you will enjoy. They are from the portion of our train journey aboard Amtrak from Chicago to Washington DC. I hope you enjoy them and please keep coming back as I will be posting some more over the next few days.

Also, if you would like to read some interesting material about the journey from Chicago to Washington DC and the many interesting places along the way, including the historical Harpers Ferry, the Mason Dixie Line and many other interesting places and facts, you can click here.

Pictures from American Visit

For this post, I have started adding pictures from my American trip. To view the pictures, click here and please keep coming back as I will be adding more over the next few days. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I certainly enjoyed the trip.

Final days of my trip to America

I arrived home on Thursday morning last – 1 November - from another great trip to Minneapolis. I was met, as usual, at Dublin Airport by my loyal friend Pat Whelan.

Bye Tom

Before I go further with this post, I think it is fitting to pay tribute to the staff and flight crew of Delta Airlines, from the young lady in her pyjamas at check in at Minneapolis to the final good bye as we deplaned at Dublin.

My plane from Minneapolis to Atlanta

The young lady in her pyjamas at Minneapolis check in was amazing. After she helped us transfer some items of clothing from one case to another to avoid an overcharge of $50, she gave Judy a pass to accompany me to the departure gate. Security, of course, doesn’t always allow this but when they do, it is always so nice and makes the saying good byes so much easier.

Bye Judy
Ready to board

Going on board

Well now, I’m home and settling in after the trip – not an easy adjustment to make. I haven’t invented a word yet to describe the transition. It’s always nice to return to your family, but what about the family you are leaving behind? I can think of no other word to describe Tom and Judy and their marvellous family. I find it hard to take in the fact that people I didn’t even know a couple of years ago have now taken me into their hearts and homes and made me part of their family.

Tom, Kallsen, Adam, and Parker at Adam and Sara Beth's house

Kallsen and Parker at play

Joe, Adam, Joseph and Tom discussing the issues at Adam's radio station

Almost ready to leave for Judy's radio interview

Time went so fast. You might say six weeks is a long time for a holiday, but I can tell you it was quite a scramble to achieve in the last few days all the things that still remained to be done. It was unthinkable that I could come home without seeing Judy’s dad and sharing his favourite meal of pancakes with him at his favourite restaurant, and mine, Perkins. Also, I so much wanted to see Kara and if possible Sam and the rest of her family. In the event, I was delighted to see Kara twice – once for lunch at Applebees restaurant at Ridgedale Mall, and, on the last Sunday of my visit, attending Church with her and two of her children, Christopher and Amelia.

I love to meet Judy’s dad, Al. He is such an inspiration for all of us. This time, Judy and I had breakfast with him at Perkins restaurant, in Chaska. Pancakes, of course, were on the menu

Judy's dad enjoying his pancakes at Perkins

For those of you that don’t know, Judy’s dad is a sprightly 95 year-old- going on 50. He told me he had to forego a trip to Colorado a few weeks before because his younger brother, Ernie, who is 90, was unable to make the trip. Apparently, the young guy wasn’t up to it. I’m glad to say Ernie is now recovered and should be well able for the next trip. Judy's dad also told me how he acquired his taste for pancakes. When he was a young boy, growing up in Nebraska and Colorado, after the morning chores as he came towards the house he would know, from the cooking smells wafting across the yard, if his mom was cooking pancakes for breakfast. He loved those mornings when pancakes were on the menu and ever since, pancakes have always been a special treat for him whenever he goes out for a meal.

Judy and her dad at Perkins

I love to spend time with Judy’s dad and listen to him tell stories from his past but on this occasion time was the enemy as Judy had to get back to work. Still, it was nice to see him even for a brief period and I’m certainly looking forward to spending more time with him on my next visit.

The previous week, Judy also took me to see the Pompeii exhibit which is currently on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota. St Paul is one of four cities where the exhibit is visiting during its tour of America. Everyone knows, of course, the history of Pompeii and how it and its sister city Herculaneum were discovered in 1748 after being buried for centuries under mountains of ash from the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius which destroyed the two cities in 79AD. It was awe inspiring though to visit the exhibit and actually see statues and artifacts along with household utensils and other tools and equipment which shaped the lives of the people of the period.

Judy at the Science Museum

Judy ascending the steps to the top of the Science Museum

Seeing the exhibits must have been especially poignant for Judy who had actually visited Pompeii a short time before during her trip to Italy and Greece. More about her visit to Italy and Greece can be seen on her travel blog.

View of the Mississippi River from the top of the Science Museum

Now my trip was coming to a close, but how could I even envision returning home without spending one last day with my all-time favourite person, Sarah, and her two boys, Davey and Derek. Judy and I, or GrammaJoe as we are affectionately known by the boys, arrived at Sarah’s a little later than she had hoped but still we managed to get in a beautiful day playing with the boys and watching some of their favourite DVD’s with them. We also got a chance to accompany Davey to pre-school and collect him later in the evening and meet all his school pals and teachers. It is always so nice to spend time at Sarah’s and this time was no exception. We were also lucky to meet Dave before it was time for us to return home.

Judy reading to Derek on our visit to Sarah's

Davey, Joe and Sarah

Derek taking me to collect the mail

Hands

South Carolina

On Wednesday last, Tom, Judy, and I arrived back in Minnesota from our trip to South Carolina. The journey home was uneventful except for a two hour delay at Atlanta Airport due to runway construction at Minneapolis/St. Paul. Still, we didn’t find the time long as we had lots to talk about our marvelous train trip and, particularly, our time with Adam, Sara Beth and their children, Joseph, Kallsen and Parker.

I think of how nice it must have been for Tom and Judy to see their family and their grandchildren again. It was nice for me; I can only imagine how it must have been for them. I am eternally grateful to them for sharing this marvelous trip with me and for giving me the opportunity to be part of this great family.

Three years ago, a journey to America was the furthest thought in my mind. Now as I sit here in Atlanta, I try to make sense of it all. Because of my chance meeting with Judy and ultimately with Tom and the rest of their family, I am now in the middle of my second trip to the USA in one year. With their help and, of course, with the help, and encouragement to make this trip, of my family in New Jersey, I have been to Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. In addition, this time our epic train journey on the way to see Tom and Judy’s family in South Carolina took us through Indiana, Maryland, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina South Carolina, Ohio and of course, Georgia. If my math is correct, I make that 16 states I have visited or touched on during my two visits.

It was a marvelous experience to make the train journey to South Carolina to see Tom and Judy’s family. The journey consisted of three stages but Judy is doing some great posts about that, so I will refer you to her blog to read all about it.

For my own part, during the time leading up to the train journey, I was secretly hoping that perhaps we might get to travel some way on the train called the City of New Orleans which is immortalized in song by Arlo Guthrie and, again, by Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. It was not to be however, the nearest I got to the City of New Orleans was seeing its arrival time at Chicago Amtrak Station. Not travelling on that train though was no disappointment, the Empire Builder and Capitol Limited served the purpose very well and gave us a most enduring experience. Again, I urge you read all about it here on Judy's Blog.

Well, that's it from me. I will now leave you in Judy's cabable hands to tell you all about our trip to South Carolina. I would however, like to thank Adam and Sara Beth for the marvellous time they gave us while we were there. I would also like to post a few pictures taken on our drive to Atlanta Airport as Adam took us to catch our plane for home.

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Beautiful Minneapolis

You do not have to visit exotic places, or stray too far from your own doorstep, to find beauty. Here are pictures I took from the passenger seat of Judy's car on our way to and from Church this morning. I think they show the beauty of Minneapolis as it displays the varied fall colours.