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A packed Superior Viaduct. Some people came out around 4:30pm to stake their claim. They may have been entertained by looking into the apartments and condos..JPG)
One of the first big crowd pleasers. A lot of “ooohs” and “aahhs”..JPG)
We had great seats from my balcony..JPG)
It’s amazing how they can make the fireworks so colorful..JPG)
One of the last big displays before the grand finale. It was a great show. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.
I love “Wedding Crashers”. TBS played it twice last week, I caught the second half of the first showing then watched the whole thing.
Because I couldn’t stand to see it with all of the commercials, I pulled out the DVD and watched it again yesterday. The movie cracks me up and I have to admit seeing things I haven’t seen each time I watch it. I end up even laughing at jokes I didn’t catch during my other 500 times of seeing the film. Hey, I’m not slow, maybe I just don’t have the best attention span.
I love the line “I hope you flip your bike over and knock your two front teeth out, you selfish son of a b#*ch!” I laugh uncontrollably each time I hear it because it reminds me of someone. It truly is a classic movie, by my standards, I’m up for watching it anytime.
By the way, I’m really looking forward to the 4th. Tonight, I’m sure I’ll see fireworks over the city from my apartment, I’m sure I’ll post some pictures. The Cleveland Orchestra is playing a free concert downtown. I hope the weather holds off. On Friday night, fireworks will light up the skies from the Flats. My parents and their friends are coming up for the big event. We’ll have a great “seat” for those. I’ve been waiting for this weekend since I moved into my place.
More good news… tomorrow is my Friday! Whoohoo!
I had a good Sunday. It turned out in no way like I assumed it would the night before when I went to bed.
I got up and picked up trash from the street in front of my place. It’s amazing what people will throw away. The area looks a little trashy under the Superior Viaduct. I think that’s part of the reason people litter like they do. If there were beautification of the area, I don’t think we’d see as much trash. I picked up a Target bag full of garbage. Many of the items were beer bottles but I also found fast food leftovers, a flip-flop and a lot of handbills promoting a cruise on the Nautica Queen. People just peel them off their car windows and throw them on the ground.
I gave a friend a ride home to the East side. I don’t go over to that side of town often because I don’t have any reason to do so. I figured I’d call my friend, Missy, and see if she wanted to have brunch. We ate at Eat ‘n Park. I asked for no peppers on my omelet but got them anyhow. I could have complained but why. By the way, there was a man at the checkout complaining about something. Not as good of a day for the folks at Eat ‘n Park.
I also figured I’d drop by my sister’s home. My nephews weren’t home at the time but they arrived they were suprised to see me. It was hot as heck so I took the opportunity to swim in their pool. They’d just opened the pool so we made a whirlpool. It was fun for them but it was all to clean the pool and get all of the leaves and sticks into the center so we could clean them up easier. My littlest nephew, Ayden, is getting bigger and he’s even rolling over onto his stomach. He doesn’t like being in that position that long though.
After getting a lot of sun (I’m burnt), I hurried home to attend Yoga, yes, Yoga! It was a free class and say what you will but it’s HARD! If you haven’t tried it, you have no room to make any fun. I couldn’t believe the trainer who was “practicing” next to me. She got into poses that I couldn’t ever see myself doing. They claim everyone has that potential. One of the big parts of yoga is breathing but you almost forget to do it when you’re concentrating on trying to keep your balance and not falling over.
One of the strange moments for me was when you allow your foot you were stretching to come back to rest on the foot. You’ve just spent about 20-25 minutes stretching that side of your body. When you allow it to rest on the floor, I felt two things. The first was that it was actually longer than the other side of my body. A really weird feeling! What was even stranger for me was trying to find the floor with my heel. I thought it would be about a foot higher than it was. It felt like I was extending my leg below floor level. Think of the feeling you have when you are going down steps and think there is another one there and it’s not.
I rushed home and went to bed only to be woken up a couple of times but the feeling of the sunburn in my shoulders and arms. Still, even with the sunburn, it was a good, positive Sunday, one I wouldn’t have predicted.
Apparently they haven’t made these stickers since the late 80’s. But last night, my aunt’s friends got their own “Follow Me To The Moon” stickers to do whatever they would do with them. I had a great time with “The Westfield Group”. I appreciated the invitation. It was also great to have my aunt and uncle stay with me last night, even if they left waaaay early this morning. Robin, I’ll keep your watch in a safe place. If it’s adjusted a little bit it’s only because I wore it a couple of times.
The little guy isn’t quite so little anymore. They say he looks like me. Don’t you think he’s a good lookin’ guy?
I had to laugh when I looked through Yahoo!’s top searches for today. Check out number 3, “Pork and Sauerkraut”. I have to admit being one of the people who contributed to its position on that list.
Yahoo! Today’s Top Searches
1. Tournament of Roses
2. Bowl Games
3. Pork and Sauerkraut
4. Captain America
5. Saoirse Ronan
I couldn’t remember why a lot of people cook up the combination each New Year.
sauerkraut.com reports:
“As the Germans and Dutch began colonizing America, they brought along their
taste for sauerkraut, an ability to make it and an evergreen New Year’s meal
tradition: Families enjoying pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day will have
good fortune all year because pigs root forward signifying the coming year, and
green cabbage leaves indicate money.”
I love pork and sauerkraut. So much so, I once made it in the middle of the year. Go figure!
Today, I put 2 two pound bags of sauerkraut in with my pork and cooked it for four hours to make my favorite New Year’s Day dinner. My mother only used a two pound bag of kraut in hers. I need more I guess. She also put an apple in the dish. She claims it takes away some of the bitter taste. I think it was my sister’s suggestion. One recipe I found online called applesauce. Call me a traditionalist but I like things the way I’m used to them being.
This year my mother made her Christmas cutout cookies but didn’t make them the regular way (with the added lemon extract in the frosting). Don’t get me wrong, they were still great but I keep telling her don’t mess with perfection. I guess I’ll always love Mom’s cooking, the old fashioned way. Mom, remember no green beans in the casseroles (Chicken Pot Pie or Tator Tot). I still don’t like the taste. I like green beans but just not in casseroles.
Since I’m on a role with the topic of food, I just downed some pistachio pudding. I’ve always liked it the best of any pudding (including chocolate). My parents would bring it home when they used to work at Nabisco. The plant where they worked made Royal Brand. Nabisco has since sold that brand off to another company.
I recently got a recipe from one of my friend’s mother for pistachio cake. I had it over the summer and it’s great. Maybe I’ll think about posting it here on the blog.
I’m hungry…
Although we knew that going into this whole thing… Here’s the headline about my new nephew. Ayden Donald was born December 8th, 2007 at 3:07 in the morning. He weighed 7 pounds, 14 and a half ounces.
He arrived a little earlier than his Christmas due date but noone in the family thought he’d wait that long. Some people (his great-grandmother) thought he might be sharing the space with a wombmate.
He and his mother are doing fine. His grandparents are a little tired today after staying up most of the overnight to see him born.
His uncle will get to see him for the first time today. Of course, his uncle will no doubt have pictures to share on his blog soon.
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I found the following article today while starting to pack up my things for the upcoming move.
The following is about my great, great grandfather. As you’ll see in the article, you’ll see he lived in Basel, Switzerland before coming to the United States where he started a successful agriculture venture.
I’ve also included a picture of him, his wife and two of their children. The following article is from a book about Wayne County.
The interesting thing about the article is it identifies my great grandfather as Wallace, his middle name, instead of his first name, John. The article was published back in 1910 and reflects things as current events. My great, great grandfather died in the 1900’s. My great grandfather passed away November 12, 1977.
There is no nation that has contributed to the complex makeup of our American social fabric, an element of more sterling worth and of greater value in fostering and supporting our national institutions than has Switzerland.
From this source our republic has had much to gain and nothing to lose. Switzerland has given us men of sturdy integrity, indomitable perseverance, high intelligence and much business sagacity – the result being the incorporation of a strong and strength-giving fibre, ramifying through warp and woof.
A man who may well look with pride on his Swiss origin is the subject of this review, who is one of the enterprising and progressive agriculturists of Milton Township, Wayne County, where he is personally recognized as a representative citizen, having attained a high degree of success through his operations.
Jacob Schorle was born in Basel, Switzerland on the 22nd of October, 1867, and is the son of Otto and Mary (Gysin) Schorle, both of whom also were natives of that little republic where they spent their lives and died. They were the parents of four children. two of whom came to America, the subject being the only survivor here. The two who remained at home are still living.
The subject received a good education in the public schools at Basel and in his youth learned bookkeeping. At the age of eighteen years, fired with an ambition to secure larger opportunities for future advancement, he came to the United States, and at once located in Milton Township, Wayne County, where for the ensuing three years he was in the employ of Peter Mongey, later working for five years for John Slemmons.
He was industrious and economical and at the end of the period noted he found himself in position to start out on his own account. He therefore bought one hundred and sixty acres of fine land located northeast of Sterling, in Milton Township and here he has since conducted farming operations with a very gratifying degree of success.
His property is adorned with a full set of neat and attractive farm buildings, everything about the place indicating the owner to be a man of good judgment and wise discrimination. In connection with the tilling of the soil, Mr. Schorle also devotes considerable attention to stock raising. Holstein cattle being his specialty. He is progressive in his methods and keeps in close touch with the latest ideas in relation to successful agriculture.
On March 22, 1889, Schorle was united in marriage to Mary Leichty, a daughter of John and Veronica (Mongey) Leichty. This union has been a most happy and congenial one and has been blessed in the birth of ten children namely: Walter, Otto, Martha, Fannie, Howard, Dorothy, John Wallace, Laura, Edith and Harold.
In religion, the subject is a member of the Reformed church, as is his wife, and they take a deep interest in the various activities of that society. His political affiliation is with the Democratic party, and he takes a commendable interest in the trend of current event, though not in any sense a seeker after puhlic office or official preferment of any nature.
Mr. Schorle is one of the intelligent, substantial and responsible men of the township in which he lives. He has been a successful agriculturist and has done much to develop the resources of his his estate, making another of the fine farms which are the pride of Waye County. He enjoys the respect and esteem of the public as a man of integrity, while he is much beloved in the narrower circles of private life.
From: HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO, Volume II, 1910, B.F. Bowden and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana.
This year, I’m keeping with the tradition and putting together the next chapter of the video. It’ll be of my mother and father. I can’t believe it but I have good pictures of both of them. (Note to parents reading this post: Don’t just stop taking pictures of your kids when they hit the tween and teen years. Neither of my parents have a lot of pictures from that time of their lives that I can find.) I digress… I think the video so far is a good addition to last year’s Chapter 1. I’m including it on this post.
Also enjoy this picture of my dad when he was a Wayne County Sheriff’s deputy.
Take a look at my apartment, you won’t notice anything different, not even the fact that 14 people were here at one time. Sure, the place smells a little different, like a lot of food but it looks the same. My family even left me with little to do but take down the trash, which I’ll happily do!
The bad thing was my little nephew, Spencer, didn’t feel good enough recovering from his kidney infection to come over. It was a good family gathering but not quite the same without my sister and her family here. I guess I understand now more my mother’s feelings when I was in Detroit or in South Texas.
I hope your family gathering was just as good and you didn’t overeat (too much!)
Happy Thanksgiving!!
