Christmas Day with Melissa

Christmas and New Years were something of a blur this past year, as we were all excitedly getting ready for our long awaited family trip to Disney World (much, much more about that in the weeks to come) and many things were postponed and put aside.

Our wonderful trip is history, life returns to normal, time to get back in the swing.

Melissa spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with her own family in Lake County, finishing the day with our family here. A few photos of that day.....

Project: Photo Monday

Simply chronicling our day...specifically Monday....

The Falconaire's - A Valentine's Day Concert

Bill and I celebrated Valentine's Day at a concert at Forest View School featuring the Falconaires, a big band orchestra. They were absolutely incredible, one the best I have ever seen.


Also featured were singers reminiscent of Patti Page, Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney.




Topping off the venue were the Three Tenors....totally unexpected and completely amazing.



Bill was still under the weather with a lingering respiratory situation so we decided to postpone our planned late lunch for another day. And our kitchen table was overflowing with candy and chocolate cupcakes....a wonderful Valentine's Day for all.

Mary Todd Lincoln....at the Library...

Recently, Tess and I were lucky enough to attend a library program featuring the thoughts, memories and musings of Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's First Lady. The woman who portrayed Mary was wonderful. I only wish she had spoken longer, I could have listened for hours.





Unfortunately, we do NOT have photos of the delicious Petit Fours and strawberries served at the tea which followed the program....they were so delicious that we forgot to photography them!

Another stellar program thanks to our Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

Happy Valentine's Day To All I Love!

The Sixties Were a Strange, Strange Time....

....even in something as simple as knitting.....words fail....

Oh Joy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling Overwhelmed With Hope..

Here's to new beginnings....at long last....Go Barack!!!!!

Celebrate the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King....

Playing For Change: Peace Through Music is a movement that Dr. King himself would surely embrace.

This inspiring video, "Song Around the World - Stand By Me", speaks of music as a universal connection.....beautifully done.....

A New Year...A New Beginning....Again....

While I attended Our Lady of the Rosary grade school there were two times of the year I saw as chances to begin again...to start fresh....to do better...to start with a clean, fresh black and white composition book with no eraser marks. September and January signaled those opportunities.



I continue to see the year in that light, feeling that I have yet another chance to begin again, to get things right. Right means being a better mother, a kinder person, a more loving wife. It means gifting myself with time and attention to that creative side of me neglected for far too long.

I have been a dancer, a writer, an artist, and a musician....all so many, many years ago. Though I no longer can dance full out, paint at the Art Students League on 57th Street, or play guitar with friends well into the night, there are things I can do...today.

I will journal and draw once again, I will photograph what I see, I will learn to play Jimmy Webb's "Highway Man' on the piano, and maybe sing along, I will finally bake the 50 step Rum Cake that so reminds me of OLR schoolmate Angela Gustino, I will paint a faux Amish rug on the front porch floor, I will learn to ride a bike, I will learn to roller blade so that I might feel like I am flying, I will learn to juggle.....

All this, and perhaps more, I will do. It's time to move ahead. It's time to stop waiting for the moment to begin. It is time to embrace these words....

"Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt,sing like no one is listening,and live like it's heaven on earth."- William Purkey