has it really come to this?

hillbilly handfishin'

claire's latest pet craving

two dwarf hamsters/hampsters/however-you-spell-'em are what the putch is hocking us for now. dunno how gryffin'll feel about them (the bird and fish could care less), but we'll prolly find out in about 5 weeks if claire proves she's rodent-friendly and capable of taking care of them. (they are pretty dang cute.)

happy birthday, bonni

in no particular order

more to come...

how i've been staying cool in this hot-as-ass weather

"harry potter," last night. "captain america," this afternoon.

did not expect that trailer for "shark night 3D" (or whatever that facakta movie is called). at least there were no real scenes shown, just a girl swimming and a shark appearing. yep, claire should still be taking baths after exposure to that, unlike the damage done to me thanks to my parents taking me and my younger sister bonni to see "jaws" in the theaters. yeah, good idea.

ooh, look at me rambling on and almost turning this into a therapy session. i'm just gonna post and move on to getting those vacation photos posted.

guess she shouldn't have said "no"

My Way News - Troubled diva Amy Winehouse dead at 27

who knew a 5-night family cruise could rock so much?

managed to pack in time for our trip to canada that left from the NY port last saturday morning. the cruise was a bunch of fun, pretty relaxing, and just cheesy enough w/ the shows and activities. there were no elvis impersonators, which was nice b/c i'm still not over the one who showed-up to my 25th surprise birthday party (thanks, mom and dad for that traumatizing experience). and, there was a casino to waste time (and money) in while claire was in kids camp, so i had all that going for me, which was nice.

any old ways, i'm pretty tired, so i'm gonna sign-off, relax and come back to writing about the trip later on.

(gosh darn, i miss the cruisin' life. that's for sure.)

another from 30 years ago

where do i begin w/ this one? the "chrissy snow"-inspired hair-do? the had-to-have "jordache" sweatshirt?

headin' up to canada

leaving tomorrow on a five-day cruise and leaving my laptop at home, so i won't be updating this so-called blog till the end of next week.

(what're you gonna do, bonni?)

good-bye, eleanor

i hate funerals, especially the kind for loved ones. today we buried my mother-in-law and i feel horrible.

mourning eleanor

day two of my mother-in-law's viewing is done. thank you to all of our friends and family members who came by over the weekend -- your love and support was/is greatly appreciated.

tomorrow morning is her funeral.

boy howdy, death sucks.

just for me

30 years ago

feeling a little nostalgic on my birthday, so i figured i'd share this bunk photo from cejwin camps, 1981...

birthday eve

spent my last night being 41 w/ my friends grace and tho. had a great time yammering away and stuffing ourselves w/ mexican from 5 burros on austin street.

now i'm ready to face my birthday. come n' get me, 42.

bad teacher = bad movie

the movie stunk, but being w/ tho made the experience quite nice.

two more shopping days left

... till my birthday.

first day camp bus blues

the bus picked-up claire 35 minutes late this morning and dropped her off over an hour after she was s'posed to be home this evening.

happy birthday, USA

decided to skip the annual trip to wilmington, VT, to stay home and watch the fireworks from our balcony (dang you, macy's for moving it to the hudson this year).

went to the park... watched the coney island hot dog eating contest on TV... and now, gonna play a little wii before deciding what to do next.

toning it down tonight

taking a break from explosions, guns and flying strippers (thank you especially to "x-men: first class" for the latter) and just popped "blue valentine" into the playstation 3. as long as i pay attention to ryan gosling's hairline, i'll be golden.

[update: sheesh. this movie is far from mellow and very intense.]

two from who-knows-when and two from june 1998, for sure

i promised to post the wedding ones awhile back, so here they are w/ two extras from years gone by. the first was taken in my sister's backyard around 2003/2004. the other is from somewhere in the '90s.

eleanor

not a good day today

lost a special person in our family earlier this morning, my mother-in-law, eleanor borgatti. too wrapped up in emotions to write anymore. i'll post pictures later today -- gotta scan them b/c they were taken before everyone started using digital cameras.

to be(lmont) it is

going to belmont w/ the family. i want "kissa melissa" in the first race, but i don't think we'll make it there in time to place a bet on that. oh well, there'll be plenty of other races for me to lose when we arrive.

to be(lmont) or not to be(lmont)

that is the question for this afternoon.

the park doesn't open till 3pm, so there's time to decide. for now, i'm off w/ the putch to austin street.