Halloween 2012



Meet Black Spiderman Mason and Good Witch Marley!

We had our annual Halloween at Karen Lynn Circle this year.  Much better than last year when Halloween was cancelled and we were sitting in the dark under blankets!

It was quite a busy day as Mark and Janelle had the closing on their new house.  Auntie Amy came up to babysit for that and also to go trick or treating with us.  She dressed up as her favorite, Ozzy Osborne!

I was wondering how Mason was going to do because the night before he told his father that he didn't want to have Halloween the next day because he didn't want to see monsters and pumpkins!  He is too funny!  I could see monsters, but pumpkins?  He did fine, walking right up to the houses, ringing the bell and saying trick or treat and then thank you, and sometimes the other way around! LOL!

Because it was Wednesday, I had to leave early to go to my Prims group, and what did I see when I got there, but Miss Pat dressed up as something....Mardi Gras girl maybe!  The girls got quite a kick out of it.  Some of them didn't recognize her until she spoke!  Leave it to Miss Pat.

Happy Halloween!

Throwback Thursday - Talking on the phone



A few weeks ago Kristen, Toby and Marley were here for dinner.  We were eating at the kitchen table and I got a phone call.  I went around the corner and down the cellar stairs to talk on the phone. 

Marley said, "Why is Grandma talking on the phone on the cellar stairs?"

Kristen said, "She's been doing that for years."

I guess she is right.  Paul took this picture of me in November 1977.

I guess my reason is that I've always felt it was not polite to talk on the phone at the table where others were eating, plus in my family it's much too noisy!

Throwback Thursday - Kristen and her friends singing

A few days ago Marley was humming in the car.  After a little while she asked me if I could hear her humming.  I said yes.  She asked me if it was bothering me.  I said no, that I liked to hear her hum.

It reminded me of another time in the car, many years ago. 

To back track just a little.  The picture below is of three of Kristen's friends in Junior High.  The date on the back of the picture is 7/1985 so they were all about 13 or so.


Jennifer, CT, and Lisa

 
Lisa had gone to the same elementary school as Kristen; and she met Jennifer and CT probably in middle school (6th/7th grade).  They were all in the band together.  For a while, CT and Lisa used to come to Wednesday night girls' club with Kristen.  The girls were sitting in the back seat singing, and Mark was sitting in the front with me, either going or coming from Wednesday night church.  Mark looked at me and said, "Mom, make them STOP SINGING."  I remember saying, "The day I outlaw singing around here will be a pretty sad day."

Just a funny little memory that came into my head from a long time ago!

Annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we went to Westview Creamery in Monson, MA.; our annual visit to the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful Fall day with beautiful views.

We fed the goats,

went on a hayride,

hunted for the perfect pumpkins,

visited the pigs,

had ice cream,

and basically enjoyed being together at this beautiful place.

Now, if we can just find time to carve all of these pumpkins!

Throwback Thursday - Hoosac Tunnel

Paul and I have been trying to take a foliage ride this Fall, with the SUN OUT.  It has yet to happen.  Whenever we have the time, it is either cloudy and/or raining.  Our plan today was to go to the Catskills.  The day started out cloudy, with 90% chance of rain later on in the day.  So, instead of taking such a long trip, we decided to take a short ride because, even with the clouds out, the trees were still pretty. 

We took a ride through Savoy Mountain State Forest, and we ended up in the vicinity of the Hoosac Tunnel.  The tunnel is almost five miles long.  It was started in 1851 and finished in 1874.

In 1993 Paul was really into researching the first attempt to drill a hole through the mountain for the Hoosac Tunnel.  This is a picture of what remains of a hole that they tried to make using a 24 foot diameter boring machine which got stuck and was unsuccessful.  Eventually they created the tunnel using nitroglycerine and pneumatic drills.

We had a mission to find the east end, the west end, the central shaft, and the west shaft of the tunnel.  The shafts were used during construction, and the central shaft is still used for ventilation of the tunnel.  We spent many Saturdays exploring all around the area.  The hardest one to find was the west shaft, as it was basically just a hole in the ground in the woods.

Today we found the central shaft again, and also the east end.  It was amazing to me that we had a hard time finding them, when we had spent so much time around them.  But....it was 19 years ago, and we are getting older, ha ha!  We ran out of time to find the other two.  That's for another ride!

Pictures from 1993


Central Shaft

East Portal

West Shaft

West Shaft with fence around it

West Portal

Throwback Thursday - Visiting Gordon College with Marley



On Monday Paul, Marley and I took a ride to Gordon College in Wenham, MA. Awhile ago Marley and I were talking about where her mother and Uncle Mark went to college. I asked her if she would like to visit there some day. Homecoming at the college was Columbus Day weekend, Marley had the day off from school, and I thought it would be fun to go there today

Paul and I hadn't been there since Mark graduated in 1998. There were a lot of changes, but there were many things that were the same. 

Kristen went to Gordon in 1990.  Lewis Hall was her dorm for the four years that she was there.



Kristen and her roommate for the first two years, Mearlene

Marley and I went in the dorm, walked up the stairs to the dorm rooms and peeked into the hallway.

Mark went to Gordon in 1992.  This was his first dorm, Ferrin Hall. 

Kristen walking to Mark's room

Kristen and Mark in his first dorm room.



Ferrin Hall looks pretty much the same.

What a fun day.  It was very nostalgic for Paul and me.  Marley was very impressed with the campus and thinks she would like to go there.  As much as I hate to see her grow up, I would love to see her go to Gordon.  It really is a special place.  I felt the same way about it today as I did the first time I went there in 1990. 

When we got home, Paul found an old list that he had kept of all of our visits to Gordon - 87 trips in eight years.  Good memories.





More Post Offices

Here are some more Post Office pictures that I have been taking for posterity ;)

East Wallingford, VT

Ludlow, VT

Newfane, VT

 

Weston, VT

Catskill, NY

Haines Falls, NY

Hollowville, NY

Tannersville, NY

Otis, MA

Throwback Thursday - Our Wedding Reception

This is a picture of one of the family tables at my wedding reception.  I love this picture.  Every time I look at this picture, I wonder what my Aunt Esther (Ettie) is thinking.  Obviously my father said something that made her look at him like that.  Her expression makes me laugh.  I have always wished I knew what he said.  It is such a "sister-being-upset-with-brother" look. 

The people at the table are my father, Ettie, Aunt Lucy, my grandmother Lucy, and Uncle Ross (my mother's brother). 

My wedding reception is such a blur to me.  About the only thing that I remember is that I could not eat anything, and that Paul on one side, and Danny (best man) on the other side were eating everything in sight!

Seems like a lifetime ago!