Little Italy, Night 1

 We had dinner the first night with our next door neighbors from home.  We've had a couple of near misses with them on vacations.  We were actually in Bermuda at the same time (them on a cruise) and didn't realize it until afterward.  This time Alana and Matt had talked about it.  On our ride home one day we all talked about it (Matt, Alana, and I) and decided it would be fun to see each other outside of our usual zone.

 Matt and Alana have grown up next to each other.  They are like brother and sister and we love Jerome and Colleen.  We met at Cafe' Napoli in Little Italy where we'd eaten before.

 After several texts back and forth with Ron at home, he remembered that it was Ferrara's that had the good cannoli.  Ron and I are kind of connoisseurs of cannoli.  Well, not kinda, we are professional cannoli tasters.  And Ferrara's came through-they were good.  I did have one at another place (no, didn't get the name, dur) the next day and it was even better.  It's a thang I gotta do in NY (or anywhere else).  

Ferrara's had the cutest and, I'm sure, the tastiest Easter baskets.  They were just fun to look at too.  It was a fun night.

New York, Part 1

 These photos are probably going to be all over the place.  For some reason Blogger is making me upload from Picasa and now making me purchase more room for my photos.  I have no idea what's going on.  I bought more "space" so I can keep posting without them interrupting, I hope.  The one above and the next three are of Central Park.  We sprung for a pedi-cab to take us through on a 45 minute ride.  Well worth it; we've only seen bits and pieces and we got the whole overview.  When I next post, I will have photos of Strawberry Fields and the John Lennon memorials.

 There were lots of flowers all around the city.  Everywhere possible the bulbs were freshly popped.  It did indeed look like Easter.

 A boy and the city he loves.

 Pics from Matt and Paul's walk across The Brooklyn Bridge.

Please keep your fingers crossed...

Testing, testing...

This is a test.  After doing my last post I couldn't load photos for another post I wanted to do. I just got back to this after being out of town and I guess I pushed enough buttons to correct the problem.  I think it was just okaying the new format.  Who knows.  Okay, rest up; I'm going to be making several posts-my usual long ones. 

Blessings.

Probably if you're reading this you know that my former father-in-law, Dr. James G. Teer passed away a couple of weeks ago. The above picture was taken at his and his wife, Joan's 50th wedding anniversary celebration in 2007. What a blessing he was in all the lives he touched through personal and professional relationships. He was a greatly accomplished man but you never would have heard that from him. His legacy through teaching, being professor Emeritus for the Wildlife Biology Department at Texas A&M University, and even perhaps more through his consulting work with wildlife scientists around the world. A true Texan and a fine man, I could not have asked for a better grandfather for my two older boys, Lucas and Justin. The man that he was and the experiences of knowing and loving him are remarkable and unique. The experiences I had being his daughter-in-law for over 11 years were remarkable. Thankfully, I have been blessed to remain close to my former in-laws and my wonderful sister-in-law, Jill. By crazy design of life, Jill and I live just within an hour of each other on the East Coast. There have been so many losses in my life recently but Grandaddy's passing was a blessing in the end after battling Louis Bodie disease; a form of dementia caused from a type of Parkinson's disease. His was a life to be celebrated, which the family did through his memorial service, he spent his life doing exactly what he loved most and was well awarded for it. The legacy of a teacher is forever. The legacy of him being a wonderful man, teacher, father, brother, husband, grandfather, and all of his other titles is endless. Thank you, Jim, for all the memories and blessings. I love you so.

Just 'cause...deux

Since I changed up the look of my blog I just wanted to put in a photo that looked good when it popped up on my screen. I already did a post with this photo but I wanted to see it again. Gotta be queen somewhere.