Happy New Year, Readers!
I sit here at the Lamp Post tonight
doing my very favorite thing.
It's time to put the story of 2022
into words and photos.
It takes a few days to sort through the captures of my life.
I began earlier this week when we were under a blanket
of Christmastime snow.
I started with going through my phone photos,
and when the rains came,
I was onto my camera photos.
My old Canon is still going strong.
By the early light of the morning,
the photos began to upload to this blog,
and as the sun rose,
I read back each blog,
week by week,
all 52 weeks of Friday night reports of 2022.
Every year the experience leaves me filled with gratitude and love.
I've learned in my 51 years of life,
that learning cannot happen without reflection.
One cannot look forward to new things
without a proper look back.
Mother Nature always gets first priority on this blog each week,
therefore we shall begin with a march through the months
by her hand.
Winter's snow
and quiet rest.
Gives way to new life,
but not before a few tests.
Spring comes late in these parts
and is always welcomed.
Oh, the softness of spring!
Summer rolls in bold
full of free time and fun.
Plenty of time for photos
under the midday sun.
Late summer whispers fall is near.
Fall is for harvest
and preparations for the dark, cold months.
Fall is time for displays of brilliance.
Winter slides in
with its bare branched grasp.
Then the snows come round again.
The moon is mesmerizing,
and often you'll find me beneath her glow,
in my weak attempts to capture her beauty.
The moon is a beauty,
but this girl---
she is perfection.
Let's not have a hand in the blemishes.
I think of this big, wide world,
and all the places we can go see.
We've been a few places this year.
In March we traveled to Frederick, MD
to watch the Huskies play a few games in Spring Training.
We played some teams and friends of Cousin Phil,
former coach of Frederick High School,
newly retired and enjoying life.
The guys had a blast
and left their mark on the area.
I got to see Tim McGraw in concert!
We left early so we could tour the tiny Cuyahoga Falls National Park
and eat at the Winking Lizard.
We highly recommend!
We highly recommend!
Tim did not disappoint,
although he did forget the lyrics four times.
I totally understand a full brain.
In June we took a trip to a little piece of heaven--
almost heaven,
to be exact.
We checked out the New River Gorge National Park,
officially receiving its title in the fall of 2020.
Here's the New River,
which is one of the oldest rivers in the world.
Look what we did!
We walked over the gorge,
underneath this bridge!
No worries.
We were tethered.
Where were the missing gang members.
Mountain State Mini Golf
was the perfect activity for the weak-kneed in the group.
During the summer we had many fruitless searches
for Big Foot.
Marienville, PA has a Big Foot Festival
each June that is really worth checking out.
So fun!
So fun!
We always try to explore close to home, too,
because we live in such a cool area of the country.
I found my favorite beer can at Oliver's Beer Garden.
The little blue cottage got a new front
and a new bathroom
after the clean up after last year's storm damage.
We didn't give up the ship!
The Tall Ships Festival in Erie
is always something to see!
We spent some days on the campus of Louie's college, IUP.
Sam played the American Legion championships there.
He's wearing a helmet because we brought our motorized scooters
and zipped around the campus on them.
It was so fun!
Some jerk stole those scooters out of my garage this fall.
We reported it to the police,
but then I gave the case to the real problem solvers--
my students!
In all of my years of teaching,
I don't ever think I had such a fun lesson.
I printed photos of the crime scene for them to analyze,
then let them have at it.
They determined that the first suspects to be investigated
should be Sam's own friends--
the little kids,
always looking up to the big kids,
already knew their names...
kind of.
I was giggling to hard to tell them
that all of those boys were with Sam at the YMCA
at the time of the theft.
We never recovered the scooters,
so my only hope is Karma bites the thief on the butt,
or on the face.
This is what happens when you fall off of a scooter
in your driveway.
We found Sanso's Italian Deli in Homer City, PA
while on a Legion Ball trip with Sam.
A friend just visited there for the holidays
and brought us back some New Year's treats!
On a blue-skied fall day,
be sure to check out the Flower Festival
at Port Farms.
Ellen and her college roommate Kaley did!
Eloise loves animals,
dogs,
cats,
and farm animals are my favorites.
This bird kept flying into my glass door for over three weeks.
no matter what visual distraction I taped on it!
I found a dying baby bird lying in my yard.
I put him in the nest with the robins
that were about the same age.
Risky move,
I know,
but I watched Momma Bird tend to this orphaned
baby within minutes of its arrival.
It ate and slept and nuzzled and nudged along with
his adopted siblings.
I watched him fly away one day
before the others.
It has the makings for a great children's book,
doesn't it?
I grew up in the 70's and 80's
so every frog I see is Kermit,
and I think about songs about rainbows,
and what's on the other side.
One of my greatest joys
is being in the right place,
at the right time.
It was a summer of the dogs vs the squirrels.
I put bells on their collars to give the squirrels a head start.
Penny turned two this year,
and Hazel is four.
They did not like their Halloween costumes.
They did enjoy the dog race though.
Hazel did ok,
but wouldn't chase the decoy unless Louie walked with her.
Penny wasn't sure what the heck was going on.
The kids had to go to the other end and call her down
in order to finish.
Heterochromic Charlie has made a home with my parents.
He loves my mom.
They even have a chair just for him when they sit in the garage.
One day this fall,
my parents heard a rustling in a potato bag on the back porch.
Out popped a kitten.
Charlie brought it home.
We had a gender reveal party for the new kitty.
Spot for a boy,
Dot for a girl.
Charlie takes great care of her.
Dot loves my dad.
I also supported living things for a purpose.
My mom got me this sea turtle bracelet
that tracks a sea turtle.
Mine's name is Monty.
We love butterflies here at the Lamp Post
so we made a Monarch Waystation
in the backyard,
near the outfield fence of field 1.
You'll be able to spot it from the park
because Sam and Louie put a flagpole to mark the location.
We've thought a lot about the people of the Ukraine this year.
We pray for their continued strength.
One of the most memorable moments of the year
happened on a snowy day last winter.
As I pulled out of my driveway for work,
I looked through the vineyard toward the white house,
and thought how pretty it looked in the snow.
The house used to belong to a sweet neighbor named Myra.
Myra got cancer and it took her quickly,
at a very young age.
I thought of Myra and how much I missed her smile.
I drove to work and went to my first class,
a group of first graders that I had only met a week before.
A curly haired darling
walked up to me.
She was happy I was back for her weekly enrichment lesson.
So happy, in fact,
that she handed me a picture she drew for me.
I had to glance at the name at the top of the paper
because being on the their second class,
I had not learned all of their names yet.
"Why thank you....Myra. It's lovely and just what I needed today."
8 billion of us live on this planet,
and there are 8 billion opinions of how best to live life.
As long as you aren't hurting yourself
or others,
namely me--
just do your thing.
What's our thing?
Louie and I like to walk the dogs.
Louie and I like to walk the dogs.
Look for me this year in my new BLUE reflective jacket
they got me for Christmas.
We support the Huskies and all local sports,
so you'll see us at games and events cheering people on.
He agreed that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
were great actors in the Yellowstone prequel,
1883.
You can find us in a mass of parents,
carting their kids around from thing to thing.
Most are turning 16 this year,
so soon they will be driving themselves.
We are growing older
and softer
and more gentle in general,
although our kids will most likely argue that.
Growing older is nice.
I'm thankful to have the chance.
It was a bad year for bowling for Louie.
He had a tricky hip issue that kept him from most tournaments in 2022.
He had a tricky hip issue that kept him from most tournaments in 2022.
Thankfully he does not need a replacement
and has been healing and rolling strong this year so far.
The hip did not prevent him from fishing though.
He got into fly fishing, too.
He got into fly fishing, too.
He's a good sport about going somewhere new once a year.
He doesn't like traveling
and helps zero with trip planning,
but he's fun to have around.
His elementary math kids think so, too.
As for me,
my thing is always looking for the next thing
or a new challenge for myself.
I really like walking.
My friend Keri and I met often to walk,
always somewhere new.
It was time for a new kitchen floor.
And after the typical weeks of indecision,
gathering opinions,
and looking at the tiny samples in different light,
!
we chose this one
I still write this blog every Friday night--12 years and counting.
No matter what happened that week,
or how I'm feeling,
I always do a weekly review.
Don't be hurt, Readers,
but I write more for me than I do for you.
It's how I make sense of things and give order to them.
Eloise loves reading!
And it helps me feel less murdery.
One of my focuses next year is to use the library more.
More about that next week.
Here are some of my favorite books I read in 2022.
Life Is Good--the story--this is the art on the first pages.
We're still doing out thing advocating for those who have autism.
Natalie and Erik are doing well in their adult lives.
Natalie is happy doing her things.
Natalie's Happy People Collection
were the most popular items in the girls Etsy Shop,
Mountain Laurel Apparrel.
Mountain Laurel Apparrel.
They sold their items at the Bayfront Craft Fair,
and the Boston Bean Cafe in North East, PA.
Natalie is happy her in-person social events have returned.
She still LOVES to cook!
If you are looking for a worthwhile charity to support this year,
check out the Barber Beast on the Bay.
The BNI also needs a new pool.
Ellen Louise is feeling 22 this year.
She celebrated her Taylor Swift birthday in September,
and we got tickets to see Taylor in June in Pittsburgh
thanks to Ryan's patience on Ticketmaster!
Little Miss SLP to Be
is killing it in the Speech and Language Pathology Program
in Edinboro.
She is in the Honors Program and still has a 4.0.
To ease the stress of strenuous classes,
she's taken the liking of flipping furniture.
The older and more beat up the better.
She has the resourcefulness of Grandpa
and loves to create useful treasures from trash.
Here is a Tik Tok recap of some of her flips:
She's a lover of the simpler things
and has a good guy
and a good gang to enjoy them with.
Cheers to you, Ellen Louise!
Sam's things require lots of time and attention,
even for someone 15.
Everyone's favorite activity is measuring themselves against Sam.
He grew another inch and a half this year!
A large portion or our year is following Sam around
in high school sports.
It's fun.
Can you spot Eloise in the background?
It's telltale me--
It's telltale me--
1. The camera away from my face because I hate looking through the viewer.
2. My arm stretch is getting longer and longer if my glasses aren't on.
3. I'm shooting for the REACTION to the shot, rather than capturing the shot itself.
The calendar year starts with basketball.
Then onto baseball.
He sported red, white, and blue
and the big W for Wesleyville
when he played Legion Ball this summer.
He had a grand slam with a wooden bat!
They fell short for the championship in Homer City,
but had such a fun time.
Fall brings football for #51
Slam's friend Truck got a dent in his fender
(knee injury)
so Slam finished the year as the varsity Center.
He did a great job!
He mustered up the courage to ask someone to Homecoming.
and appeared to have a rip roaring good time at the dance.
Thinking back,
some things have changed,
and others stayed the same.
Grandma is still doing her thing
making sure she is up to date on everything.
Grandpa still likes to pick up sticks and burn them
with his sidekick Charlie.
My sister and I
still have our fun.
I showed her this artwork
and asked her which one she was.
"Whoever is better dressed," was her response.
\And yes,
Kenyan is still running--
Kenyan is still running--
hips and feet are still intact.
What struck me the most
when going through all these photos,
are all the happy faces we see.
The smiles are genuine.
Look....
Look....
My most commented on and liked photo series on facebook
was this one this year.
Change is inevitable, but it's beautiful.
Best advice I've found:
Fairview High School girls restroom:
Fairview High School girls restroom:
Keep dreaming.
Do not waste a single day.
I'm framing this for the Lamp Post so I can see it displayed
and read it every day.
And the simplest from our friends at Life is Good--
Happy New Year, Readers.
Welcome 2023.
Eloise
