Relatively Speaking!

As promised I did go to coffee on Monday with the girls. They were finalizing plans for the class reunion picnic being held at Susie and Bob Miller's on Saturday. Susie invited me to park at their place and eventually did later on in the week. Sandy and Alegra are sitting, and Inez and Susie are standing. She has a Steelers shirt on, and was carrying a Steelers purse. Quite a fan: she has a bedroom devoted to memorabilia.

Whenever I visit, my niece Jaymie wants me to make enchiladas, so I used the last of my green chili and made two pans, one with red sauce and one with green. Jaymie made margaritas, and Celeste made Mexican wedding cookies for dessert. That girl really knows how to make use of her beautiful kitchen. Lily and Diane made salsa with fresh tomatoes from Diane's garden. The twins Dannie and Kaylie had Popsicles for an appetizer.

As promised, I tried to get pictures of everyone; however, I failed. For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the twins big sister Annabelle who is in second grade. Johnny's girlfriend Kerri had to work, and a picture of him playing Bejeweled just wasn't appropriate. This is Mark and Celeste.

Jaymie and David, my iphone guru.

Jess and Dan: proud parents of the twins and Annabelle.

Lily, Jaymie's daughter, and I went over to Buhl Park one day to take pictures. The park is a popular place for locals, actually it always has been, and is very well-maintained. This is a statue of the Buhls who had considerable influence on the city of Sharon and Shenango Valley. The Bulh mansion is still standing on State St. along with the building that was the library when I was a kid. There was also a Buhl Club for kids, kind of like the Boys and Girls Club today.

There was a butterfly in the impatiens that was begging to have his picture taken, so I couldn't help myself.

I took a lot of pictures at the park for one of my scrapbooking pages, but this is one of my assistant photographer with the lake behind her.

On Saturday the 20th, Diane and I attended the Gebrowski reunion in Export. We met our cousin Bill at Chapel Hill, the Dicken compound in Apollo. Michelle Bernat, the Dicken's personal assistant, secretary, and friend of the family met us there, because I wanted a picture of her and neglected to get one on Tuesday when we went to lunch. We also met cousin Nick's daughter and new granddaughter. The picture is taken in cousin Bernie's house. Since he past away in February, it's on the market. Diane had  never seen it, so we gave her a tour. Saturday would have been Bernie's 83rd birthday. How ironic to be there on that day! He was such a great guy.

When we got to Vince and Terri Gebrowski Marts farm, we were greeted warmly. It was such a great time, lots of food and drink, and games for those of all ages. The water balloon toss was a great hit. Vince took Diane and me on a tour of the farm and farm house, which they gutted and completely rebuilt. It's chock full of family antiques. We all took tons of pictures of each other with the promise to share them. Earlier in the year, I had contacted a cousin named Jim Taylor in Florida through Ancestory.com. He just happened to be in town for a class reunion and stopped by. We promised to keep in touch since we are the only actively pursuing the family tree.

Our time a Susie and Bob Miller's was great. The boys and I felt really welcome. We enjoyed meeting their boys who run the plumbing business since Bob is retired? I'm not so sure about that. However we were parked right in front of the office, and got to see the day to day stuff when we there and not out doing other stuff. When I got back on Saturday night, the reunion was just breaking up, and I got a chance to visit with a few people. Alegra and Susie took some pics. I hope they share. The front porch on their beautiful home is a reflection of Bob's profession: note the toilets and sink.

Don't all Steeler fans have trees that look like this??

Almost as much as she loves the Steelers, Susie loves her Vette.

I talked the genial couple into letting me take their picture before they helped me hook up my car on Sunday morning.

 Right now I'm at Conneaut, OH, with my son Mike and his girlfriend Toni. The weather is great, and I'm parked in the neighbor's yard close enough to Mike and Toni to have water, electric, and cable TV. What more could you ask for? Toni and I have been touring roadside markets for bargains and taking pictures of the lake and such. There's a walleye and wine festival that we might go to this afternoon.

Missing in Action

Well, I never intended to go this long without a post, but being around family is busy as one might expect. My sister's house is like a small hotel with kids and grandkids coming and going. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the older ones. I'll rectify that this next week.

Last weekend, John's brother Fred and his wife Jeanette came to help a demolition guy tear down an old house that was on some investment property that they recently bought. It's just up the road from Diane and John. Watching the action provided a great opportunity for pictures.

Here's nephew Danny doing some "hands on".

Uncle Fred seriously considering the trash in his hands.

The proud owners: Fred and wife Jeanette.

This is a cemetery adjacent to their property. Fred & Jeanette's would make a good place for a Halloween party.

That same day Diane and I went to the Smith-Freeman reunion at Buhl Farm Park. I'm going to have to get some pictures of the park. It's a half block from where I lived and it's beautiful and very well used by the locals. This is a picture of the Hofius'. Their family took over the Chevy car dealership from Charlie Freeman and Bill Snyder.

This is a picture of Ted Atkinson and Mary Alice Smith, probably the only other people that I really knew there.

Later in the afternoon, we relaxed around the pool. I did. Grandma had her hands full with Kaylie and Danny.

Marshall and Tux didn't want to miss anything.

On Monday I had coffee with three girlfriends from high school, but didn't get any pics. They meet every Monday, so I'm going back again this coming Monday. On Tuesday, I had lunch with my friend Sandy at the Avalon (the same posh place where we had our 50th three years ago) at Buhl Park. Again, I neglected the picture-taking routine, so be doubly sure that I will be having coffee on Monday with the girls.

Thursday of this week, we visited Mark and Celeste's new house in Farmdale, OH. Her mother Sharon was visiting from eastern PA. This is Mark's den which Celeste refers to as "the man cave."

Celeste has a beautiful kitchen that any homemaking would die for. This is a picture of some peach-pecan muffins she made, and one of her and her mom.

After we left here, we had lunch with our Schultz cousins at the Stone Arch in Greenville. When we get together we laugh so much it makes my stomach hurt. We took turns taking pics of each other. This is Diane and Leah.

And this is Carol and I.

On Thursday of this week, I got my new iphone. I had to have Jayme's boyfriend David come over and show me how to work it. I'm using training wheels right now, because there's quite a learning curve. Bottom line: I love it!

Yesterday was my granddaughter Skyler's 19th birthday. Where does the time go? Happy birthday sweetheart!