December

Christmas dinner


HOliday quarters on the lake



Slippers by Mama


Denny turns 30...again



Titty cakes by Cathy

Miscellaneous and marvelous

Miguelito and his new pooch "Rex." Yes, he IS a pitbull. Ouch.


My two dear friends Carrie and Todd "got hitched" in August of this year. I took this photo at their bridal shower in Rye, NH. (Are they meant to be together, or what?)

These are "my girls," from High School. We were celebrating Katie's pregnancy at Amy "K's" house in Beverly, Mass. (From left; Amy, Nanc, Katie, Amy "M", and Moi. Missing: Kiera and "Buck") Admit it, we're babes.

Aaaahhh...camp.

Foodies unite

My Dad and a very dead lake trout (?) pre-fish fry.



Fourth o' July in Palermo (you know I love me some good food shots...)

PS Thanks to Denny for helping me figure out how to work the digital camera he and Alex gave me. Hopefully "Mainesheet" will be revived.

Kareem on the scene

My ol' buddy "K" was in the store this weekend lookin' for some jam. Sweet.

Bye bye church

Well, whatta way to get back into the blogging swing! These are some photos of the St. Lawrence church located diagonally behind my apartment. It was a big beautiful 150 (?) year old, Gothic style church the town just recently demolished. It was awful, complete carnage. Oh well, it gave me something to belly ache about for 2 weeks!

Alabama!

As most of you know, I just got back from a 2 week vacation w/ my folks in ALA. I couldn't have had a better time...We napped, ate a lot,

celebrated, laughed
and even saw some sights.

This was our "backyard" in at the state park campground in Gulf Shores.

More photos to come...

A la Commode (take 2)

I know, you've ALL been wondering since my post back in January...what's the latest with Catherine's new commode? Well, there's been an addition...
Not only did I have a great visit with Nane, but she sent me home with a chamberpot! (No worries Ma, there's still another one under the bed.)

Oh boy...

(I know, great, another picture of a picture. But until I get more scanner savvy, this is all you get.)
In precisely 3 short days, I'm headed down to [put unknown southern campsite name here] to see my folks. It's hard to believe I am actually (very) excited to spend 14 days in a camper with my parents, but it's true. My 16 year-old self would've never believed it! Which way to the beach...?

East-ah 2008

I went up to Palermo this past weekend to celebrate Easter w/ Nane. The night I arrived, there was a full moon (one day passed) above Gampy's old store. It was big and beautiful...I swear.

Ginny brought Lilly's to the church on Sunday.


And this is proof that, yes indeed-y, I DID accompany her. (And, NO, that's not the front lobby of a nearby pub. If you look close enough, you can see Christ in the background...I swear.)

Then, we went to the Maine Asian Buffet in Waterville for our "holiday feast." And gorged on crab rangoons, chicken and beef in various fried forms, yellow rice with peas, green beans, broccoli bits, oodles o' slippery noodles, cream puffs and 4 scoops of ice cream between the two of us. Ugh, but so dee-lish.

Porto-Alegre bound

So, my dear roomie Sarah has also flown south, but a bit further than my folks...she's going to be in Brazil, teaching fiddle and perhaps a bit of the recorder for the next two months. 88 Beckett misses her already.

Greetings from FLA

My Mama sent me some luscious citrus from the Sunshine state...yum

Mikey's 21

My dear Miguelito is 21. Hard to believe. I stopped myself from sharing w/ him the "the day you were born..." details. Though I do remember...I came home from church, of all places, with a classmate. My Dad was pouring champagne with a smile, the house was filled with blue balloons. When I returned to school the following Monday, they announced over the loud speaker that I had had an addition to my family. I was called "Aunt Catherine" for the first time. Little did I know then, what an honor that title would be. Happy b-day, doll.

Blog therapy

I know on average, blog's are meant to share the more joyous happenings in life...but I can't lie, I've had better evenings. Perhaps it was the last roll of TP that kicked it off. Oh, how they disappear so quickly...

Then, there's the perpetually unorganizable (if that's even a word) spots that seem to lurk around every corner of my apartment...(oooh, suddenly I feel so exposed).




After belly achin' a bit, I cracked open a cold beer, put a sweet Gillian Welch CD on repeat, fetched a mighty din-din and reminded myself I have tomorrow off. Suddenly, all seemed right with the world. Even when the yoke splits...

SWK year # 1

Oddly enough, the SWK Staff party took place on the very same day as my 1 year anniversary with the company. Amazing. I pretended the gathering was in my honor. Well, we DID get one free drink ticket which I suppose is just as good. It took place in a very cool spot in South Berwick, ME called "The Red Barn," where there was a big ol' slate fire place or two, natural wood throughout and plenty of scrumptious tulips (even, in the ladies room.) Ms. Hogey Rogey, this one's for you. You nature nut.

Me and my stiff Manhattan, lovin' life...also in the ladies room. I know, I'm a hottie.

Cool chair (bad shot) outside of the ladies room.

There was a bit of a "buzz" in the store pre-party. We got a little goofy and played our annual game of "hide-n-seek." Where we place one of our sweet, wind-up toys in various places throughout the space for a colleague to find. A chick was the first contestant. A bit shy at first...

But eventually rose to the occasion...

then this beauty of a vessel (Burleigh ware's Asiatic pheasant print is one of my faves too) caught her eye...



and bottoms up, it's all over. Not so shy anymore, eh?

(Hey, what can I say? So, I've gone mad. But, at this point, I had been wearing the same of pair wool socks for 10 days or more and had just ingested about a half a dozen celebatory brownies before noon. Plus, it's mid-February in Maine. Which means, I haven't seen the GD sun in days, alright?)

Go Pats!

Dana, my Boss/friend, and I went out on the town to celebrate what we assumed would be another Pats victory (I know we look like Siamese twins joined at the skull.) Regretfully, we were sorely mistaken. I even wore red, white and blue and drank Pabst Blue Ribbon (which the decor is...you guessed it R, W & B) but they still lost. Poop.

Below photo is proof we were out. We went to a place called "The Stadium," where there were loads of Brady wanna-bees and jersey wearing fans.

Sweet Hey-Suess and more

Some interesting sights along the way... top most photo is a "goose barn, " which was very cute. There was loads of snow covered geese outside (a "gaggle" you might say.) The owner of the house, I presume, was pulling 3 goats in an attempt to move their location, but they weren't havin' it. Photo below that, well, it's an old time camper, what can I say?


Well, my weary wagon FINALLY got herself an inspection sticker. With the help of a little duct tape, a sweet (and forgiving) mechanic way the hell out in Hollis, and perhaps the presence of "Our lady of Guadalupe," ( a "dark-skinned virgin," as she's called, on an air freshener I bought at an auto parts store just before inspection and swung proudly from my rear view mirror) ol' Libby-poo is legal 'til August. Sweet is right.

Grandma's picture

I know, you're all probably sick to death with photos taken of my various heirloom's and such...but here's another one you. (Well, for my Mom really...since she is a BA-ZILLION miles away and won't be back in "God's country" to see it, for awhile.) I recently rearranged my room and decided to place my paternal Grandmother's picture above my bed. My mom told me, her and my dad carried it all the way from my Grandparents farm in Nebraska on a train back to Mass. And, thankfully, here it sits. Whattaya think, Ma?
Even dear ol' Sammy-poo approves.