Late Night Blogging

2012-01-18T19:40:00.008-05:00

Speak, Oh Lord, Your servant is listening....

Reveal your plan! Show me the way!

2012-01-07T15:41:00.000-05:00

De-Christmasing the house is hard!

Throwing away the cookies? Not so hard!

Happy Uki Christmas.........

December 7

2012-01-07T12:32:00.006-05:00

It was good to see scrapbook buddies and to spend the evening scrapbooking with them!

Cheryl and I got lots of prep out of the way for our big scrapbook overnight weekend coming up!
Almost as exciting as our upcoming trip to Mexico together!!! Very excited!

2012-01-02T22:34:00.000-05:00

Congrats to newest lover of Tostitos.................

2012-01-01T23:36:00.001-05:00

As always, good eatin' at the Szopas!

It was a race to see who could get rid of their Christmas leftovers first!
Happy New Year one and all!

2011-12-31T23:59:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year, everyone!
Peace and happiness
to you and yours in

May your troubles be less,
And your blessing be more.
And nothing but happiness,
Come through your door.

2011-12-31T15:16:00.006-05:00

Don't you just love when your plans blow up in your face!?

Our lovely planned brunch for the Young's literally blew up!
Luckily, in no one's face!

Lude reached into the oven, removed the strada and set it on the stove.
While he was bending to put the sweet rolls into the oven, the strada dish literally blew up on the stove top!

Not cracked.

Not just broke.

Blew up! (Ovenware???? Not so much!)

It was a beautiful end to 2011......! That this happened and no one was hurt, especially Lude is really a miracle.

Since the glass flew everywhere in the kitchen we had to throw out everything, the butter, the creamer, the pitcher of orange juice....all of it.

So, off to First Watch we went......

All in all, it was a wonderful visit with very good friends!

2011-12-28T20:22:00.000-05:00

Melting Pot Fun

Monday we enjoyed a lovely feast at Melting Pot.
The girls have never been there and I think they enjoyed it.
It was a fabulous dining experience!

Afterwards, we enjoyed the company of lots of family
at PJ McIntyre's

Happy St Stephen's Day!

2011-12-25T23:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Mom

I told you when you were sick that I would miss you EVERY day.....and it was true!

I'm at the point where I sometimes forget your laugh, so I play the tapes.

I sometimes forget your voice....the tapes help me there, too.

When I want to hear your love, I read the note.....it makes me cry because it helps me to feel your love!

Sometimes, I forget your smell......but I kept your hanky and I keep in my jewelry box. It still has your smell, but I wonder when it will forget, too.

Pictures help me to remember each smile and wrinkle....thank you very much for those I might add.

When I want to remember your gentle hands, I look at your sister's. Do you know she has the same ones! Sometimes I stare, because she is so much like you! and then, I wish for you to be here, too!

Sometimes, he still cries for you.....and we help to wipe away the tears.

You said I would forget.....but I never will. It was your time, but I'll keep my promise and I'll never forget.

Pray for me up there....I really need it. I really miss you. We really miss you.

2011-12-25T22:46:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. Papa came over for breakfast and we opened presents.
I guess you're just never too old for Christmas morning!

Then, Lude made his delicious sweet rolls for the
McCafferty feast and off we went.
Merry Christmas from the Ohio McCafferty clan......

2011-12-25T11:55:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas..............

From our pads to yours...........
Have a very Blessed Christmas and a Brilliant New Year!
Mary, Lude, Jessica and kClare

2011-12-25T00:07:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve is always such a big day for the Kemock's. We have the "white meal" in the early evening with family and exchange gifts. Perogies, sauerkraut, barley, lima beans, fish, bread and as many desserts as we can eat!!! When Lude's Mom was living, we also observed the "black fast" which was no meat of course, but then, no dairy products. She wouldn't even let you put cream in your coffee during that day. Only until dinner...then it was okay. Every once in awhile, when she wasn't looking, I took a hit off one of the baby's bottles!

We were very thankful that the weather cooperated and the drive from Chicago was not bad. The girls arrived nice and early today and we were all ready for them.

kClare and Louisa with their Chocolate Marshmallow martini's. They brought me a bottle of chocolate marshmallow fluff vodka!

Dad's not allowed to cook the fish inside the house.....at the request of many, including himself. Again, the weather allowed for him to cook the fish out on the back patio instead of in the garage where he's had to do it before on bitter, snowy Christmas Eves past.

Here, he's making his famous individual breads for our feast!
The cookies are ready to go.....
The boys are waiting for Santa....tracking him on Norad!

We finished up the evening at 10:00 Mass which was very special. Dad joined us, so we had a big group. Our choir performed the Hallalejah Chorus during the mass tonight and it was pretty special!

2011-12-21T07:09:00.000-05:00

We're both on vacation.............
Let the festivities begin!

2011-12-17T12:31:00.001-05:00

Our neighbor progressive dinner turned into just dinner at our place......
what a fun group of people!

Lude working his kitchen magic...

Merry Christmas, neighbors!

2011-12-14T11:48:00.000-05:00

Well......it's ten days before Christmas and whose
bright idea was it to paint the master suite ? ? ? ! !

We're not going to do this again...........

2011-12-02T09:16:00.000-05:00

Guess where I was today..........................

Deja Vu, for sure!!!!

My nephew Cameron is in the third grade and his teacher is so FABULOUS...that's because she's my friend, Michelle! So, I went into the classroom today to help with an art project and to visit with Cameron!

Talk about a walk down memory lane....things are pretty much the same....except for the security guard at the door that makes you relinquish your drivers license as you enter!

It was FUN! I am reminded of what an incredibly important job teachers have and we can't even give them the money to do it. Just listening to Michelle feed them knowledge.....I had to feel sorry for how difficult her job must be and how little regard we have for teachers.

2011-12-02T09:15:00.001-05:00

My work peeps and I went to Moosehead to ring in the Christmas season.
It was good drinkin' and good eatin'!

Merry Christmas, Peeps!

2011-11-26T08:48:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving in Chicago.

kClare and Louisa had their Thanksgiving feast with the Hallas' this year. Jess had her traditional "scampi's and perogies" with her friend Michael, so we thought we'd drive up to Chicago this weekend and bring a turkey with us!

We stayed at a great place within walking distance of kClare and Louisa's place and it turned out to be PERFECT....hopefully, we can take advantage of it again some time.

We packed up the car with everything except the kitchen sink....literally.....

And, we were not disappointed by the apartment........

An exhausted couple of girls..........

My Top Chef.....

We had a lot of time to relax this weekend.....it was nice. Lude and the girls went down to Giardano's to pick up pizza, but I actually never left the apartment the whole weekend.

Dinner on Sunday was wonderful....all the traditional fixings!

Later in the evening, we had some additional visitors to add to our list of people to be thankful for......
We are thankful it did not snow horribly for our drive....although we did have torrential rains the last two hours of our drive home....and you know me and rain???? Not a good mix!

2011-11-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We have a lot to be thankful for and we try never to forget. We go off track now and again, but when the seemingly worst things happen in our lives, we stop and give thanks. We'll shed a tear (OK, OK, I shed a tear) and we say to each other, we have SO much!

So, for the girls.....Jessica, kClare and Louisa, we are truly grateful!

Dad....who carries on bravely without his bff.

And, for Lude....the person who holds me together, loves me and more importantly, makes me FEEL loved.

We had our annual TURDUCKEN at Scott and Nicole's. Delicious, as usual.
What are WE when we eat Turducken......a chicken inside a duck, inside a turkey, inside a human? Hmmmm

I didn't take too many pictures today.....I forgot to catch one of the turducken before it was gobbled up!!!

Nick with Mr and Mrs Vance....

This is Nicole and Lude in the kitchen.....

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

2011-11-20T22:30:00.000-05:00

I know it's crazy, it's only November 20th and we put the tree up tonight.

It's standing, a little crooked, I might add, but it's up.

It's interesting how from year to year you can have the spirit or not! Things have not really been the same at Christmas since my Mother's passing...her birthday is Christmas Day. Last couple of years the holidays have been different....I told Lude and the kids if they wanted bakery they could bake it themselves.

The past two years have brought newer life changes and the past couple of months especially. I'm reminded of who the most important people are in my life.

But, we're ready for Christmas this year.

Bring it on, we say!!!!

OH, and thanks for cooking me and PaPa Boxty and Bangers tonight, Ludeeeee.

2011-11-13T22:28:00.001-05:00

Tonight's "Evening Prayer for the Dead" was, as always, a very beautiful ceremony. It's so solemn and moving; Father Neil does such a great job. The songs are likewise incredibly provoking. Tonight we were joined by a master violinist who added so much to our music especially You Lift Me Up. The service leaves you in tears, not always a fun experience, but...remembering our loved ones is never easy and the tears are cleansing. It's a sad service to attend, but it's what you need to do, for THEM and for others as a church community.

OH, and Happy Anniversary Rick & Cheryl....love ya!

2011-11-12T09:07:00.001-05:00

The annual Food and Wine show at the Cleveland IX center was very fun...thanks to Aunt Maureen and Uncle Bernie!!!!

Along with the show was a fine arts show where we ran into a friend of Lude's from PA and his wife. Roland makes fabulous metal art sculptures out of railroad ties and it was such a stroke of luck that we got to catch up with them.

Paula Dean (NOT, but it sure does look like her, doesn't it???) was standing right behind me in line to try her hand at the Ohio Lottery give away table.....

We got to see Robert Irvine and Guy Fieri...we were pretty far up in the audience, so I didn't get great pictures, but it was a lot of fun to see them in action! We didn't go into the Michael Symon show, but we watched it from the floor of the vendor area and it looked like his show was great too!
We did a wine tasting as well which was a lot of fun.

A great Saturday!

2011-11-08T22:27:00.000-05:00

I LOVE YOU, LUDEEEEE....no matter what life throws at ya!!

2011-11-07T22:26:00.000-05:00

Tonight, the girls are going to THE JEFF AWARDS at Drury Theater in Chicago. The Jeff's is THE award program for live theater in Chicago. Second City has been nominated for FOUR awards! and one of kClare's show was recommended for a nomination as well.

You can learn more about THE JEFF AWARDS here

So, this is a big deal for them. Jess got two tickets, so she's taking her very talented sister. Hob-Knobbing in the theatrical community is very important and Kath is wearing something she designed and made.

Second City is shuttling them in a large limo to Oakbrook with food and drinks on the way.

Their show won BEST NEW SHOW, BEST REVIEW and Tim won BEST PERFORMER?

The pictures are great, they all looked fabulous and they looked like they had a great time!

Some pictures from the official photographer.........

They got to perform as well

Congratulations SKY'S THE LIMIT...WEATHER PERMITTING

2011-10-28T22:23:00.000-04:00

We went to Jan's birthday/Halloween par tonight...what a fun time. Lude
went as a reverend and I went as a pregnant nun!!! Happy Birthday Jan!

2011-10-28T22:10:00.000-04:00

Lude's in South Bend for the next three days on Business. Nelson and Mike will be there, so I'm tagging along just to say hello. I've decided not to go to the big conference in New Orleans, because we're taking a short winter cruise and it's just too much, so this is a good chance to see them.

While there, we took some time to go over to Notre Dame in the evening to pray in the grotto. It's a beautifully peaceful spot!

I left on Tuesday morning to go to Chicago to see kClare, Jess and Louisa. I had lunch with the girls in Old Town and Kath had an interview with SC to be their stylist. Then, she and I drove up to Rogers Park where she lives. I finally got to see their new apartment. HUGE....
This is the entryway into the courtyard of their building.

this is the living room looking into the dining room and then into the kitchen where kClare is standing.

One of their cats....

She showed me around town a little and then we walked to the beach.

They're SO close to the beach. She said they went to the beach almost every day in the summer! How great is that.

When Louisa got home from work, we went to Hamilton's pub for dinner, drinks and lots of talking! It was a very short visit, but an important one!

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas with the girls.

I was sleeping in the "crafts" room.....this is kClare's sewing space!
It was a good visit, I wish it were longer......

2011-10-15T22:06:00.000-04:00

Lude's brother Nick and Joy are flying to Chicago today to see Jessica's show, so we're driving up for the night to join them. I've seen the show a couple of times, this will be Lude's first time to see it live. We met at Orso's in Old Town, because, what better place to eat in Chicago??? We walked down to Second City from there and enjoyed a great show. Jess has another show later tonight so we just visited with her for a little bit before heading back to the hotel.

A few pictures from Chicago.............

2011-10-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

We drove to Baltimore and met up with cruise friends, Paula and John and sailed on the Carnival Pride to Bermuda! What a fabulous island! The ship was great, the island beautiful and the company the best!

Here are a few pictures! This is Chris our tour guide in Hamilton, Bermuda!

This was at Black Bay Beach...the rock formations were very cool.
On our Segway Tour, we were taken up to the Commissioners House on a hillside at the Royal Naval Dockyard and we got a good view of the pier below.
This is considered the Royal Naval Dockyard
A Moongate at Somers Garden in St. George's, Bermuda

We did a lot of relaxing up on deck this time.

More great rock formations at Tobacco Bay Beach, St George's, Bermuda

The Unfinished Church in St George's
Every night ended with a fabulous sunset.

2011-09-30T21:30:00.000-04:00

EASY COME, EASY GO.....
Jessica Joy's stint on the PLAYBOY CLUB was short lived! The program
aired only three episodes before they took it down. Mixed reviews
coupled with the family value advocates got all over the show and down
it went. The producers are considering moving it to Cable, but we'll
see. We didn't learn until we came back from Bermuda that they
cancelled the show...and on her Birthday, no less!!

2011-09-28T11:33:00.009-04:00

She's workin' it......

kClare has a lot of projects that are coming to a head causing her some creative stress!
Everyone has their stress coping mechanisms.....kClare is no different!

I want to say it's all "good" stress, but not really!

She's busy working at a lot of contract jobs plus throwing David's Bridal in there when they call!

And, her show at RedTwist Theatre has been "Jeff Nominated" !!! www.jeffawards.org/jeffplays/index_current.cfm

Check it out here.... www.jeffawards.org/jeffplays/index_current.cfm

Be well sweet girl!

2011-09-27T09:54:00.002-04:00

We had a lot of fun at the "viewing" party last night! I put out a few invites to friends, family and neighbors to come over to watch the very late night, 10PM PLAYBOY CLUB episode that Jessica was appearing in! A huge milestone that we hope we will experience again......but would never want to pass up the opportunity to mark festively! Lude projected the show on a blank wall which made viewing easier and very fun!

I was not disappointed by the turnout of friends, neighbors and family that stepped up to help us celebrate and enjoy the fun, mocktini's, popcorn and cake.

You can view the episode here: http://www.nbc.com/the-playboy-club/video/the-scarlet-bunny/1358318/

We "face-timed" with Jess before and after the show...I think she was pleased with how it went. AND....huge - she's in the credits! Here are a few pictures from last night!

Thanks for coming everyone......love you all!

2011-09-19T11:20:00.003-04:00

Today is Lude's birthday.....those of us that are supposed to know how old he is, already know, so I won't say which one!

So, Happy Birthday to the best person in my life!

Today is the oldest you've ever been, yet the youngest you'll ever be. So enjoy this day while it lasts.

2011-09-15T15:43:00.002-04:00

Wow....I think it's official!

And, all A's, too!

Gotta love 'er!

2011-09-13T11:37:00.002-04:00

September 19, 2011.........that's all I'm going to say!

2011-09-11T01:31:00.000-04:00

Continuing to pray for the millions of people impacted by the events of September 11, 2001.

2011-09-10T11:53:00.000-04:00

It's been so rainy lately, we didn't get to golf today, but we kept our dinner date.
On Friday, we went to Tartine in Rocky River for dinner with friends.
We had great drink, great food, great fun!
Thanks, Martin!

2011-09-05T11:47:00.002-04:00

SHE'S HAVING A GOOD YEAR.......................

Back in 2009, I think I reported that Jessica had a part in a movie called "Janie Jones" with Abigail Breslin and Elisabeth Shue.

She was "Girl #1" as seen here.

The sign on her dressing room door.....
Here she is with her co-star "girl #2" with Abigail Breslin in the background! ....

Jess in her "trailer" waiting for her call.....

The film didn't go anywhere right away; I think in the fall, it was reported to have been released at the Canadian Film Festival - which we don't know is true or not. She always reminds us that "she never knows just how much of her is left on the cutting room floor...."! And, she kept telling me to watch the $5.00 bins at Walmart for the movie!!!

Well, they're ready to release it here. October 28th is the release date and you better go see it!

Here's the trailer for the film and even though Jess just has the one scene, she made the trailer which is HUGE.

She's all the way to the end.......I don't even have to tell you to "not blink or you'd miss her".....

It's all very exciting.....stay tuned!

2011-09-05T11:31:00.007-04:00

Kathleen is enjoying getting her feet wet in Chicago. Her apartment is much further north than where Jess lives, but they're still close enough to get together if they want. Kath, Louisa, Marly and Cassie are adjusting to life together with two cats!!! Good thing for Zyrtec! She texted me this photo.....They're still unpacking a lot of boxes!

She's happy to be working at DAVID'S BRIDAL in their alteration department. She loves it because it's giving her some very technical experience and she says that it will look good on her resume. They appear to be very happy to have her there, too. I guess brides can be as picky as actors!!!! At least according to the show Bridzilla! She's also doing some contract theater work which, with it's deadlines can be stressful, but she's happy! So, we're happy!

I can't wait to go up and see her and her new place!

I miss them both!

But, I recently told my friend Karen who was all gloomy at her daughter's wedding (at the thought of her moving away).....it's what we hope for. To be happy, well adjusted, independent people. Them, being happy being who they are and doing the things they love. We can't spend our whole parental life hoping for these things for our kids and then be all gloomy when it happens, can we? I guess we can, but.........

Success!

2011-09-05T10:27:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, we went to......

CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF ART AND NATURE 1936-2011

It's one of those places on the Bucket List! It's so close to home, shame on us for not getting there sooner! It really is well worth the trip, it's a beautiful creation. The talented work of Frank Lloyd Wright just shines! We have not seen any of his other properties, but I cannot imagine that any of them hold a candle to this house. I took so many pictures, it's hard to pick which ones to post!

The Kaufmann (department store) family of Pittsburgh, PA commissioned Wright to build them a summer home on this property! At the time (the early 1930's) the average price of a home in Pittsburgh was $5000. This home cost over $155,000 to build at that time.

It is extremely extravagant and extremely simple ALL at the same time.

The grounds surrounding the home are breathtaking, including the streams and pathways.

When you visit the website for Fallingwater, you can see the property via a live webcam....which shows you this view!
The incredible architectural details were so awesome. His idea when building the house was to "destroy the box". You can read so much about the design, ideas and building of Fallingwater, but his basic idea was to have the house be simply "one with nature". So, all the stone is local and often built INTO the house, the windows often had very little steel framing. The glass was built into the stone and the corners of the windows were frameless. All the lines inside the house drew your eye to the outdoors and every room had a huge outdoor living space for entertaining and just enjoying nature.

This is a view of the back of the house coming down from the guest house and the carport. This represents how Wright designed the house to incorporate the rocks of the mountain side. That is the patio for Edgar Kaufmann Sr's bedroom and study. It was customary in those days to create separate sleeping quarters for husbands and wives. The little stairway from the patio leads up to the third floor which was Edgar Kaufmann Jr's bedroom and office. Having worked with Wright, Edgar Jr. helped Wright in many of the design ideas. As you can see, the terrace is suspended out over the river, which is true of all of the house. It's all done "cantilever" style and thus, there are no load baring walls inside to destroy your view of nature and most of the house is suspended out over the river!

Here is another example of the serious cantilever design elements. This stair looking thing is actually the covering over a curved pathway from the guest house down to the main house. It is meant to represent the falling water of the waterfall that the house is actually built over. It was poured in one continuous piece and needs NO support from the house above to the house below. However, somewhere along the way, a few poles were added (according to our tour guide) just to ease the minds of the Kaufmann family. The many architects that have visited and inspected Fallingwater say there is no reason to have them.

This is the pool for the guest house....I didn't catch why the water was green! But, it's a stream fed pool and the setting that it sits in is exquisite.
This is a view from the eating area of the main living space through past the fireplace on the right to the sitting area and then out the windows to the stream. You can see that as they were building, they discovered this huge boulder where the fireplace was to be and the Kaufmann's asked that Wright leave the boulder and make it part of the design. The huge round kettle with it's spigot, swings around to be right over the fire so that Mrs Kaufmann could keep her many mulled ciders warm for guests. The ceiling in this area of the house was fabulous and all the lines of the designs in the room, again, lead your eye out to the outdoors.

This is a view in that main room from the sitting area back to the kitchen table which again, was built in! All the furniture was designed by Wright as well.
Everyone would enjoy Fallingwater...I can't say enough great things about the house and the grounds. The home was given to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr in the early 1960's and it's been on tour ever since then. They have done NOTHING to the house other than to maintain it which they have done beautifully. Even all the furniture and books remain from the Kaufmanns.

We continued on then to Wheeling, WV where we spent the night at the Wheeling Island Casino and Race Track. Well, we didn't spend ALL night there! It only took us 15 minutes to loose $30....I came home a winner because I didn't spend my money in the first place!

GO....you won't be sorry!