Souvenir

 French, noun use of ( se ) souvenir  to remember < Latin subvenīre  to come to mind, equivalent to sub- + venīre  to come.

This One From the Beach:

Michelle (16) with her brothers, Dominic (17) and Paul (23) at the beach at Camp Pendleton, July, 2011



The Mermaid

Who would be

A mermaid fair,

Singing alone,

Combing her hair

Under the sea,

In a golden curl

With a comb of pearl,

On a throne?

II.

I would be a mermaid fair;

I would sing to myself the whole of the day;

With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;

And still as I comb’d I would sing and say,

“Who is it loves me? who loves not me?”

I would comb my hair till my ringlets would fall,

Low adown, low adown,

From under my starry sea-bud crown

Low adown and around,

And I should look like a fountain of gold

Springing alone

With a shrill inner sound,

Over the throne

In the midst of the hall;

Till that great sea-snake under the sea

From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps

Would slowly trail himself sevenfold

Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate

With his large calm eyes for the love of me.

And all the mermen under the sea

Would feel their immortality

Die in their hearts for the love of me.

III.

But at night I would wander away, away,

I would fling on each side my low-flowing locks,

And lightly vault from the throne and play

With the mermen in and out of the rocks;

We would run to and fro, and hide and seek,

On the broad sea-wolds in the crimson shells,

Whose silvery spikes are nighest the sea.

But if any came near I would call, and shriek,

And adown the steep like a wave I would leap

From the diamond-ledges that jut from the dells;

For I would not be kiss’d by all who would list,

Of the bold merry mermen under the sea;

They would sue me, and woo me, and flatter me,

In the purple twilights under the sea;

But the king of them all would carry me,

Woo me, and win me, and marry me,

In the branching jaspers under the sea;

Then all the dry pied things that be

In the hueless mosses under the sea

Would curl round my silver feet silently,

All looking up for the love of me.

And if I should carol aloud, from aloft

All things that are forked, and horned, and soft

Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea,

All looking down for the love of me.

~ Alfred Lord Tennyson (1830)

Our Michelle -- Girl of the mountains and the wide prairie

Her motto always: Colorado 's the best --

Who'd ever have guessed?

She's also a Shell of the sea!

Wouldn't throw her back.

A Birthday Gallery

Kevin Christoper
Twenty-two years old today!
(Our Annunciation Baby)

With hair.
(At six years old, the most he may ever have)



Without hair.
(And camera; a preteen self-portrait)




With hair.
(And a plate full of Thanksgiving)



Without hair.
(With scary makeup -- for Halloween a couple years ago)



With hair.
(And beautiful girfriend, sweet Emily)

Without hair.
(With pipe -- a 21st birthday gift from big bro, Paul last year)



A fridge decoration from Kevvy's graduation days...



With or without hair, he's a great guy to have around...

Our Kevvy,

A man of humor,

A man of honor,

A man of Faith...

And, incidentally, the son that can most be counted on to call and text his motha.

(Sorry, sibs...  Sha, sha, ya know it's true.  You can get the brownie points yourselves, too,  if you like...)

Happy, Happy Birthday, Kevvy! 

We love you!!

(* For anyone who might be interested and hasn't seen it, here's a link to Kevvy's education blog, The Rockie Road.)

I'm Gonna Be A Grandma!

Our oldest son, Paul -- this guy here ----->









just called to say that

his beautiful and charming wife, Nicole --- this girl here ----->











had a change of plans with her doctors
(just a matter of timing is all)
and is scheduled to be induced tomorrow,
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

So, these people here ---->
are gonna be grandparents...
(Don't look anywhere near old
enough to be grandparents,
do we?)

and these kids here ----->
(except for Paul)
are gonna be aunts and uncles...

and these two awesome people here --->
are gonna be parents...


TOMORROW!

WOOHOO!

Will you kindly join us in praying that it's a quick and safe labor and delivery and that everyone is OK?

Thanks so much! 

* We'll update when Gavin James gets here. *:0)

Wordless Wednesday

Check your bags and climb on board the California Zephyr, train #5.  Starting here at Union Station in Denver Colorado, we'll be following the rails westward, through the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction, Colorado.

 Here's a view through the windows, below.

And then just a peek of Paul and Nicole's little newlywed apartment, where they wined and dined me at the end of the ride. (Am I a lucky Momma, or what?)

(check out the wedding ring there..)

My weekend itinerary, in a nutshell: I got to go out with my son and daughter-in-law (fun to say that!) and six or eight of their friends to Bostons' for dinner and drinks on Friday. We slept in a bit and Paul and Nicole cooked eggs and bacon for breakfast Saturday morning. Then Nicole and I got some shopping in while Paul studied. In the afternoon we got to go to the senior recital of a friend of the kids' where we got a little culture with some very impressive tenor opera. Saturday evening Nicole treated us with a wonderful dinner of chicken and pesto pasta. (Paul opened the wine.) Then Sunday after Mass Nicole and I visited with her lovely family, then joined Paul back at their apartment to watch movies and enjoy the rest of the evening visiting. Then, a little sleeping in Monday morning and the trip back on the train before noon. It was a bit of a whirlwind visit, but wonderful.

And, yes, I finished my book -- and got a good ways into another one.  Life is good.


More mostly wordless posts at Ordinary and Awesome!

Guess where I'm going...

I get to get on one of these tomorrow morning bright and early...

... with a book to read...

...and a phone full of music that Dan downloaded for me...

...and access to a dining car and an observation car (like the one in the above picture)...

...and I get to travel over the Colorado Rockies to see these guys:

(Though I expect they'll be dressed less formally when I see them)

I am so honored.

My son and daughter-in-law have invited me to be their first houseguest!

And I can't wait to put my feet up on their coffee table, and read my book, and just visit and visit and visit.

I'll be back next week!

Have a pleasant and blessed weekend, everyone!

Monday Morning, Bright and Early

A week and a day ago...

Right before the boys all left to go back to Omaha after a week of wedding excitement.

For morning music, Carlos (l) is playing the piano with son, Jon (r); our friend, Christopher, is sitting next to drowsy William on the couch.

You see Theresa popping up in her grey tee shirt, Michelle is eating her cereal, and Kevvy is on the computer. The bags are packed and waiting by the front door and the house is a typical Monday morning mess, but, well, gee... you might as well see us as we are. Some of us are morning people, and some of us aren't. (I'll let you see if you can figure out which are and which aren't.)

The big news around here is that Kevin drove back with the boys to Omaha last Monday morning, spent a prayerful few days, had some good talks with his seminarian and priest friends and decided that he had heard the Voice he joined the Seminary to listen for. Though he loved the classes and thoroughly enjoyed his fellow seminarians and instructors, he felt God was calling him to a holy life outside of the priesthood. So, he took the train home last Friday, and is out job hunting right now. He'll likely start some classes at a community college in town next semester, and is currently pursuing another project he feels he's been called to investigate for his future course. Stay tuned for details...

A peak behind the curtain...

The Bridal Shower curtain!

Nicole's sister, Beth, crafted a wonderful Bridal Shower on Saturday. She reserved room in a darling little Bistro, arranging for all the guests to order off of the menu for lunch. The food was teriffic, the ambience, perfect; everything was so comfortable and everyone had the most fun.

Here are the specs:

The four girls and I got up before the crack of dawn Saturday morning to make the trip over the mountains, swinging by to pick up my sis, Aunt Nina, and our good friend, Alena (who is also one of the bridemaids). It's always my pleasure to drive over the Rockies to my favorite place in the world, the Western Slope of Colorado, but it was an even better trip than usual with all the chatty-girl company and such a joyful event waiting for us at the end of our drive. I'd met Nicole's Mom, Deb, and had met her sister briefly, but had not had the chance to meet all the bridesmaids and the rest of her family and had really looked forward to it. We knew that we'd love them all, and we did. (Nicole could not possibly have come from anyone but the most dear kind of people.) The Bridal Shower was the perfect chance to meet everyone and such a treat to get to put faces to names! Beth chose two creative, silly games to play (which I'll describe in a minute), and the little bistro was filled with lots of chatter, lots of laughter and lots of presents to open. It was perfect.

Some pictures of the festivities:

Now, Nicole darlin', there really are a lot of pictures of you in here. Yes, indeed, there are. But, that's because you were the queen of the day, and rightly so, the center of all our attention. And I want to show off my beautiful daughter-in-law and the lovely shower her sister threw for her... So, bear with me here. (You are gorgeous in every single one of these pictures -- and look at all the fun!)

The Family: The bride-to-be with her sister, Beth.

Nicole's Mama, Deb, with Beth's a-dorable baby boy, Trey (almost 2 months old).

The Fun:

Game #1 was The 20 Questions, Bubble Gum Challenge

Beth cooked up twenty questions for Paul to answer, then asked Nicole each of them to see how well she knew her husband-to-be. Any time Nicole missed a question, she had to put a piece of gum in her mouth. It was hilarious! She only missed five or six (tough questions!), but, as you can see, it was still a mouthful.

How much gum do you have in there, Nicole?

Yikes!

The Presents:

Everything from Pyrex, to cookbooks, to the traditional nighties, and lots more!

Beautiful Alena holding our gift, a basket of towels and other bathroom goodies --matching soap dish, lotion dispenser, etc. (And don't you say a word, Alena; it's a gorgeous picture!)

A Martha Washington cookbook from my mom.

Isnt' this cute?
"But I can't hold this one up in a restaurant!"

We're all feeling a little better that Nicole will have Aunt Nina's afghan to keep warm.

And a little bubbly is always good.

Game #2 -- The What's-in-Your-Purse challenge:

Beth called out a list of items on at a time; if you had an item, you were instructed to sit in the chair to your right or left; if someone was already in that chair, you sat on her lap. As the game progressed, there were multiple "stack ups." It was a riot!

A good time was had by all!

We're so glad Nicole will be a member of our family and that we'll have such a sweet link to her circle of wonderful friends and family!