Ron and Mary,
When do your attorney and his spouse get to see the new palace? I’m adding “snow” shovels to my gift to the new place. Also, we have a couple of old tables – one kitchen size, another was a room divider years ago – let me know if you’re interested.
Love, Dad
Time is catching up with me. It is now nearly Winifred’s birthday (12th) in the month of June and the words are still in my head. It has been time well spent. I already related a bit of our sojourn south from March 28 until May 9th. We returned to attend the Christening of Alex and Aidan. We returned to begin preparations for the move in September.
The christening was a grand affair. We had the church to ourselves. A goodly number from both families were in attendance. The award for the “Fastest Baby Undresser” went to the team of Mary and Suzie, proving once again a “Mother Knows Dress!” or practice makes perfect. The losers were Tom and Ron. The undressing was required since the baptism was to be one a full immersion. It however never came to pass so the undressing contest was for show only. We did receive a lesson in parental control, when it appeared that Colleen was not going to remain quiet or in one place during the ceremony. She, Colleen, was collected by her Mother, Suzanne Marie, and summarily taken out of the main church area to a vestibule. Mother returned alone! Some five minutes or so later Mother left and returned with the child. A now subdued and quieted child. Many later sought to learn the secret of her child control. It turned out to be nothing new…just a regular old bribe, “Be good or no cookies at the Christening party!” The magic was in that it worked so well.
The time in St Pete’s was spent in reading, painting, walking, writing, studying, playing some golf, drawing, and shopping for things needed in the new house. I even found a nursing home nearby with a grand piano in its lobby that I visited a couple times. We also visited the beaches, some of the restaurants, entertained our guests, Rich and Shirley, and Macy Lou. It really is not proper to refer to Rich and Shirley as “guest” since it was their house in which we were entertaining them. One memorable event, which we promised to promulgate herein: Shirley, a new golfer, managed to be the leader after nine holes while playing with Rich (her husband) and two friends. We both agreed that it was a nugget worth reporting in these rambling pages.
Macy Lou’s visit required a new restaurant every night. We also visited some of the outdoor bars and entertainment places. One of our visits was to Shepherd’s in Clearwater Beach. It is one of the better buffets on the “Sun Coast”. A term applied to the places along the Gulf (from Naples all the way north to Clearwater, at least. On the day of our visit I had played golf with Glenn Miller, a fire captain from Toronto. He is no relation to the departed Big Band leader. Though he told me his Dad, also Glenn met the bandleader’s brother, Harry, in England and brought back an autographed program. His brother was also a musician. But I digress. That evening, after the game, and after we had feasted on the buffet we retired to an outside bar and entertainment area. We were listening to a calypso guitarist singing. As a bit of humorous banter I gave the bartender the “Guess who I played golf with today?” routine. He said, “Who?” and I responded “Glenn Miller!” His response was a blank, a look that said “So, who’s Glenn Miller?” Ah, sic transit gloria mundi! (Just showing off since I’m studying Latin once again).
I read some good books while there. “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison, Paul Theroux, “My Other Life”, and an Elmore Leonard crime novel, whose title I now can’t recall. The six weeks was testing for me. It seems I passed since I am looking forward to returning to “full” retirement come September. Here’s something I wrote one morning in our new paradise:
“It’s 7AM and as I walk down the palm tree-lined avenue to retrieve a morning paper, I see a full moon still visible in the early light. The temperature is already 70 degrees. I walk in shorts and sandals the two blocks for the paper. Along the way I’m listening to the wind “wishing” through the palms and fir trees high above us. I hear birdcalls of many nuances and description. Only the sound of an airplane growling through the sky reminds one of the rests of the world out there. Another day dawns in Shore Acres.”
The poetic beginning of that day (4/23) was quickly shattered with a tornado watch being issued .It was another first for us. It was posted that morning for the area, although primarily north of Tampa. The sky darkened, it was “Darkness at Noon” in St. Pete’s. It stayed with us until 4PM. A tornado was cited maybe 50 or 60 miles north of us. We dined out that night a the Santa Madeira, in Madeira Beach and returning home we noted there was a “full moon” shining brightly above us.
On the 26th of April I had a contest with Mother Nature, literally. I arose early to take Mary Lou to the Tampa Airport. It was raining like a waterfall. There was no sleeping even If you had not needed to get up due to the noise of the rain. I managed to get Mary Lou to the airport around 8:30. At times we were driving no faster than 30 mph due to the flood of water cascading down the road. There is a seven-mile bridge across the Bay that was even more, if possible, torrential. Mary Lou’s plane was delayed due to the weather. I waited till after 10 and hoped the occasional break in the rain would make a return trip a bit easier. I left the airport around 10:30 and still encountered rain but stayed on the expressway as long as possible. As I neared the area of Shore Acres one of the main cross streets (4th and 38th) was flooded to a depth of almost 2 feet, so I worked my way around it and soon was heading down Connecticut Avenue (a main thoroughfare into Shore Acres) but at a crawl since the water was nearly a foot with more falling. I tried one street and then backed out. I finally came to a connecting street and started down. I noted a number of stalled vehicles and I maneuvered around them. I got within 200 yards of our comer, Massachusetts and Venetian, when “bang” everything stopped. I saw a few other people standing in front of a house opposite where I was stalled. I went up and they commiserated with me. The homeowner, a Bill Bernhardt, said the combination of the high tide, the flood of rain, and that this was one of the lowest spots on the street made it impassable. He gave me his phone number and I waded home, only a short block away. I called back about an hour later, around twelve-thirty, and he said the water had receded. I walked to the car and it thankfully, started right up and I drove home. We later learned that we had a record rainfall of nearly 7 inches on that day. We also learned that Shore Acres at high tide with heavy rains is like Sea Isle and
Avalon, the bay backs up through the drainage pipes and brings water onto the highway. Mary Lou’s plane never left until 12:30 or so, and she missed her connecting flight. They took care of her however and she eventually got back to
Philly. She enjoyed her visit so much she couldn’t stop talking about getting her employer to get a branch office in St. Pete’s. I believe if she could’ve of gotten a ride back to Shore Acres when the flight was delayed she might have just done so!
Last weekend we visited the newest member of our family, Hannah Elizabeth McSorley, and her parents and sister, Dan, Lori, and Meaghan. We spent Friday night through Sunday night in the thriving metropolis of Hilton, N.Y. – home of the Hojack Railroad Station, Hovey Square, and the Hilton Diner, aka, The Hilton Family Restaurant.
Hannah, now two months and bit, is a petite little lady. After seeing Alex and Aidan (now close to 15 lbs.) Hannah easily personified “delicate and dainty” but just as awesome as her cousins. She has a cast on each of her little legs from under the knees to the ankle. She tosses them around with ease and loves to watch them strike her hanging toys. She lies under Mickey, Pluto, and Donald Duck. If she makes them move by hitting them with her encased legs, it brings “Ahs and Oohs” with a big smile from her. One striking feature of Hannah is her eyes. They are blue on blue, light on dark, and very bright and constantly peering about while she produces a myriad of faces, of which the pout is the best. She is a beautiful addition to our family and we pray that the leg problem may soon be resolved.
Hannah’s sister Meaghan is a dynamo (as most little people seem to be around her age) and a performer. She fits right in with her cousins, Linda, Meg, and Kate (we omitted Colleen in this listing because “she’s something else!” Which is what she herself will tell you if you ask). We went to see Meaghan perform on Friday night at the Lutheran School. She sang in a small play about Daniel in the Lion’s Den. “Singing” is one of her forte. She seems to have an in-exhaustive memory for the words and she articulates them like an elocution instructor. (Incidentally, the school is at St. Paul’s Lutheran and we attended Mass at St. Leos. Dan pointed out they have the old man covered.) Meaghan loves words and teasing her Pop-pop. She noticed he was sneaking some jellybeans while reading. She immediately inquired of Grandmom if this was “allowed”. Grandmom advised “No!” Meaghan than began a campaign to rid me of the candy. She managed to get to it and hid it away…just to take care of her Pop-pop with Grandmom’s blessing! She loves playing with words. We were talking about a pelican I painted at Rich and Shirley’s home while we were in St. Pete’s It is a lawn decoration that had become worn and ragged looking, even its beak was broken. With Shirley’s permission I painted it. Pelicans, in real life, are ugly birds. They are gray, black, dirty white and waddle about with beaks that almost touch the ground in front of them as the walk. The only graceful and beautiful thing about them is when they are in flight. I decided my pelican would be more attractive so I used white, brown, tan, turquoise, silver, gold, and some green in redoing the piece. When it was completed I dubbed it “Paul’s Pretty Pelican” Meaghan like the alliteration and began aloud to add some “p’s”. She said: “Pop-pop Paul’s Pretty Pelican” and then she says: “How about this: “Pop-pop Paul’s Perfect Pretty Pelican”. As we said, Meaghan loves words.
Sunday Dan and I took Meaghan to the “Strong Museum” in Rochester. It is primarily a depository for the Collector Ms. Strong’s Collection, but it also has a Kid-to-Kid section where they can make believe by dressing up, acting as postal clerks, sailors, super market clerks, etc. They had a Victorian Room where they can dress as they did in those days, which Meaghan did. In the room there was an upright piano from 1903 similar to the one we had in our sitting room at 4116. So Pop-pop got to make believe and played some piano. The young girls tending the room enjoyed the interruption from their routine and one of them had a book “Adult Piano Course” sitting on the piano. I had fun explaining to her what “faking” was all about. It always surprises me that so many people though interested in music have never heard of a “Fake Book” or of this method of playing.
If the performances and presence of Hannah and Meaghan weren’t enough to keep the visitors happy, Lori did one better with great home cooked meals. She had meals of stuffed shells, chicken crepes, and a pork chop dish. It made, as you may have well surmised for a “great” weekend. Oh! Yes I nearly forgot! On my early morning walks I took in the sites of Hovey Square, and Hojack RR station (the last train was in 1978) and had coffee in the Hilton Diner with some of the local inhabitants.
Vide Valeque!
(Enjoy & See Ya! in Latin, or close enough)
Ron and Mary (and Co.),
Hope to see you often before Sept. 19th – anticipated Settlement date and hearing.
Love, Dad