Rest in Peace, Mr. Post

I learned from the Pocono Central Catholic Alumni Group on Facebook today that a Gym teacher that we had at Pocono Catholic back in the early 70s passed away last week.  He was 66 years old, which is far too young to die!

Mr. Post was the nicest Gym teacher that I ever had!  He never got upset with any of us, which was quite an accomplishment since most of us were little smart asses!  He used to tell the girls that if they wanted to get out of Gym class to make sure that they didn't use their period as an excuse more than once a month, LOL!  He also played the guitar and sang in a band called "Friends". He was a really cool guy!

Here's a picture that I found of him in the 1972 Pocono Central Catholic School Yearbook:

Here's his obituary from today's Pocono Record online:

James "Jim" William Post

January 13, 2014

.James "Jim" William Post, 66, of Palm Harbor, Fla., formerly of Cresco, died Jan. 13, 2014.

Jim was born Nov. 9, 1947, in East Stroudsburg, and was the son of Richard W. and Printa Bernice (Johnson) Post. He was married to Kathleen (Sokolowski) Post. They celebrated their 36th anniversary this past October. He was a 1965 graduate of Pocono Mountain High School and a 1969 graduate of Penn State University.

Jim was a physical education teacher at Pocono Central Catholic, performed in the 1970s throughout the Poconos in a band called "Friends," and then was a rural letter carrier, first in Henryville and then in Saylorsburg. He was an avid golfer and enjoyed playing in several recreational baseball leagues in the area.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Danielle Post and her husband Timothy Schehl, of Cincinnati, Ohio. His son, James W. Post Jr., predeceased him. He is also survived by a brother, Robert A. Post and his wife, JoAnn, of Farmington Hills, Mich.; and sister, Linda Post Bushkofsky and her husband Dennis, of Oak Park, Ill. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Private services were held for the family.

I was so sorry to hear of his death today and am praying for him and his family!

Rest in peace, Mr. Post!  You are an unforgettable teacher!

Goodbye 2013!

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Goodbye 2013, you were a year of pain, major upheaval and change!  I have faith that 2014 will be more laid back and peaceful and pray that this will be the case!

New Years Eve was very nice!  Tegan Marie's son and daughter-in-law stopped in to visit on their way to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. We went to Carrabbas and had a very wonderful New Years Eve dinner! Here's a picture of us all at the table:

New Years Eve Dinner at Carrabbas

After Dinner we all went back to the house and got out our New Years Eve "provisions". 
Here's a picture of our setup at the end of the evening's festivities::

Our New Years 2014 Bar - Setup

Here's a video clip of us enjoying ourselves, including a Jack Daniel toast from Tegan Marie:

After the toast, we sat on the couch with our drinks and watched the James Bond Skyfall movie.

It was a very relaxing and laid-back New Years Eve!  I hope and pray for the best of health and happiness for all of us in 2014!

The Texas Ice Queens

People started talking late last week at work about the impending ice storm that all of the weather channels were predicting. Everybody was hoping to get Friday off so that they could enjoy a long weekend.  Our Safety focal at work even sent an email containing the Weather Emergency Hotline number.

I work what is called a 9/80 schedule, which consists of working 9 hour days from Monday - Thursday for two weeks and then taking the second Friday off.  I reminded my manager that it was my Friday off and was relieved that I wouldn't have to wake up Friday morning worrying about having to drive into work on icy roads.

We fell into a fitful sleep on Thursday evening but awoke to cold darkness at 3:30 AM on Friday morning.  Unfortunately, the power was out and Oncore was estimating that they wouldn't get it back on again until 9:30 AM the next morning. We have a gas fireplace, but it has an electronic ignition. As the morning progressed and the house kept getting colder, Tegan Marie started looking at the fireplace to see if there was a workaround to get it started.  After consulting the fireplace's spec sheets we found that there is a battery backup system for ignition!  This backup requires "D" batteries and fortunately there were some in Tegan Marie's "billy club" flashlight.  She installed the batteries, flipped the switch and then Voila, a beautiful and cozy fire started!  This made things much more comfortable for us in the Living Room!  Here's a picture of the lovely fire that kept us warm that day:

The "Tegan Marie Rigged" Fireplace

As the day progressed, we started to get hungry and desperately started wanting our coffee and tea.  We have a small charcoal grill that was sitting in about an inch of ice on a table out in the back yard.  Tegan Marie went out back and got the charcoal stoking and then we put a pot full of water on it to heat up for our hot drinks.   Here's a picture of Tegs posing with our hot water.  She really looks like an ice queen in this one!

The Texas Ice Queen

What a pretty picture!  We planned what we were going to eat as we sipped our hot drinks and decided to have bacon, eggs and bagels.  Here's a picture of me cooking our meal out on the grill:

Makin' bacon on the grill!

 Next came some scrambled eggs:

Grilled Scrambled Eggs

Then the cinnamon raisin bagels:

Grilled Bagels

Then we lit some candles and sat down at the table to enjoy our meal.  Here's Tegan Marie sitting at the table:

Tegs at the Table

And here's one of me sitting at the table:

Me at the Table

Meanwhile, the dogs were running around outside in the ice wonderland:

Katy and Sheila Out Back

It didn't take them any time to find the bacon grease that we drained onto the ground:

Eating Some Bacon Ice!

They chewed up all of the ice and then into the ground to get that bacon flavor!

We were concerned about the food thawing n the refrigerator, so we brought the perishables outside to be in "nature's freezer".

Nature's Freezer

After our brunch, we kept the fire stoked to keep our hot drinks coming and to be ready to cook Supper.  We were able to keep our phones charged with a UPS Box, so we had a lot of fun talking and getting online with our cell phones to talk with our Facebook friends about the ice storm and other matters.

Throughout the day the power came on a few times for just a second or two and then petered back out.  It finally came back on for good at 5:30 PM.  We were very happy to have our power back on!

We cooked some ham, macaroni and cheese, peas and some crescent rolls for Supper and ate it with the candles that we lit earlier that day:

Candlelight Supper

Despite the fact that we lost our power, we ended up having a wonderful time!  This day made us realize how resourceful we can be when necessary and was a reminder of all of the blessings we have on a daily basis.  Thank God for our blessings!

Apartment 145

Back in March of this year, Tegan Marie moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Richardson, Texas to be closer to her kids in Oklahoma City. She moved into Apartment 145 at the Canterbury Courts Apartments on Renner Road in Richardson, TX.

This apartment turned out to be a very cozy, pleasant and safe haven for both of us.  I used to stop by every day to visit with her on my way home from work. These visits were a huge comfort to me as my marriage of 10 years was deteriorating at a dangerously rapid rate.  Then one late evening at the end of June, things got to the point where I felt it necessary to steal away from my home in Wylie and go over to the apartment to stay. This stay turned into a few days, then weeks, and finally up until this month.

Here are some pictures of how the apartment looked before we finished packing it up for good today:

The first picture is of the Living Room, which was where we spent most of our time at home on the couch chatting, surfing on our computers, and watching TV.  Watching over us on the couch was "Elaine", a beautiful lady in a tapestry named "Lady of Shallot", which is based on an 1888 oil-on-canvas painting by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse. The work is a representation of a scene from Alfred  Lord Tennyson's 1832 poem "Lady of Shallot" in which the poet describes the plight of a young woman isolated under an undisclosed curse in a tower near King Arthur's Camelot.

According to legend, the Lady of Shalott was forbidden to look directly at reality or the outside world; instead she was doomed to view the world through a mirror, and weave what she saw into tapestry. Her despair was heightened when she saw loving couples entwined in the far distance, and she spent her days and nights aching for a return to normality. One day the Lady saw Sir Lancelot passing on his way in the reflection of the mirror, and dared to look out at Camelot, bringing about a curse. The lady escaped by boat during an autumn storm, inscribing 'The Lady of Shalott' on the prow. As she sailed towards Camelot and certain death, she sang a lament. Her frozen body was found shortly afterwards by the knights and ladies of Camelot, one of whom is Lancelot, who prayed to God to have mercy on her soul. The tapestry she wove during her imprisonment was found draped over the side of the boat.

"Elaine" was one of the guardian angels who watched over us this past year. We were blessed to have her!

The Living Room, Featuring "Elaine" and the Dogs

Here is a picture of the actual painting:

"The Lady of Shallot"

Next is a picture of the fireplace, which was right across the room from the couch:

The Fireplace with Elaine's Mirror

We had a very pretty iron scroll on the fireplace, but I can't find any pictures of it.  The picture is still a nice one though.

Here is a picture of our patio, which served as an extended Living Room for us during warmer weather:

The Patio

And last, but not least is the beautiful "Princess Room" which served as our bedroom!

The Princess Room

We just loved this room and have recreated it at the house we live at now!

We cleaned up the apartment for good today and turned the keys back in at the office.  Right before we left, we said some parting words:

It looked so empty when we walked out for the last time and closed the door!  We hope that the next tenant enjoys it as much as we did!  Goodbye Apartment 145!  We will remember you fondly!

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving started out great today and got even better as the day went on!  I got to sleep in until 9:15 AM this morning, which is a far cry from my usual weekday wake-up call of 4:30 AM. One of the dogs had been sick during the night, so poor Tegan Marie was already awake and cleaning up the mess when I woke up. By the time I got out of the bedroom she had it all cleaned up, bless her heart!

We sat down and drank some tea and coffee and chatted for awhile, then I texted my daughter Nicole to say Happy Thanksgiving and see how her, Brandon and Branson were doing.  Nicole was feeding Branson at the time and said that she'd call me back later.  She texted me this sweet picture of Branson with an angelic smile on his face:

Branson's Thanksgiving Smile

Here's a great picture that Nicole posted later of Branson and his daddy, Brandon:

Daddy and Branson

Here's another really sweet picture of Branson in his big boy crib snuggling with his skunk friend:

Branson Snuggling with his Skunkie Friend - Love that Binky!

What a precious baby!  I had also texted my son Justin to ask if he was awake.  Justin is a night owl and I didn't want to wake him up with a phone call.  It ended up that he was awake and called me right after I sent him the text. We had a very nice chat and wished one another a Happy Thanksgiving. Nicole called me back and we talked for a while. It looks very good that Branson will get released from the hospital soon and they all can be home for Christmas. I also got to talk with my sister Katie later on in the day, which was very nice!  I left messages for my brother Mark on his home and cell phones, but he never called me back.  I hope that everything is okay with him and his family!

Tegan Marie and I had a very relaxing day and got Thanksgiving dinner on the table later on in the evening. We sat down and said a very special grace before eating to thank God for all of the blessings that he has bestowed upon us.  Then we dug in!  Here is a picture of our Thanksgiving meal:

2013 Thanksgiving Dinner

Here's a picture of Tegan Marie getting ready to dig in:

Tegan getting ready to dig into dinner

And here's a picture of me right before I started eating dinner:

Mae getting ready to eat dinner

Dinner was delicious and we had a very relaxing evening!  I pray that we can have the same for Thanksgiving 2014! 

I Remember When (50 Years Ago Today)

I have vivid memories of this day 50 years ago.  My father had just retired after serving 22 years in the Navy and we had just moved from Annapolis, MD to Tobyhanna, PA.  My mother didn't drive, so we were waiting in my grandmother Julia West's car at the A&P Supermarket for my mother while she picked up some groceries.

I clearly remember my mother running out to the car and exclaiming "Oh my God, President Kennedy has been shot!"  My ancestors from both sides were all Irish Catholic, so to say that my parents revered President John F. Kennedy is an understatement!

I was a very young child at the time, but I'll never forget my mother's reaction to the news of JFK's death!  It stands up there in time with the death of Princess Diana of Wales and the horrific events of 9-11-2001 as one of the most unforgettable days of my life!

Rest in Peace President Kennedy!

The Ides of November - A New Beginning

Thursday the 14th of November turned out to be a very momentous day for this year and my entire life!  It started out just like any other weekday. I got up and went to work but got off at 10:00 AM to go to the LSI Title Company to settle on refinancing my house.  It's the very first time that I've ever financed a home on my own.  Every other time that I've financed a home I've done it jointly with a spouse.

After Settlement, I went back to work for the rest of the day and then went home.  Later on in the evening we received the wonderful news that my first grandchild Branson Frederick Holsey was born at 6:49 PM at Boston's Childrens' Hospital!  Tegan Marie and I went out to Dinner at Carrabbas to celebrate settling on the house and Branson's birth.

Nicole sent the following picture later on in the evening:

Nicole and Branson - Face to Face for the First Time on 14 November 2013

What a sweet baby boy!  I'm so happy for Nicole and Brandon!  The baby is undergoing extensive testing to find out the extent of his heart defect, which was detected on a sonogram conducted in October. We're flying out to Boston tomorrow after work to see Branson, Nicole and Brandon. Boston and a new beginning, here we come!