Life's path

Just cleaning out the file cabinet this morning. I sent this flyer out to friends in 1993 just as i was to start graduate school. I knew it was an expensive gamble. ( RIT was not a cheap place to to major in an obscure design degree) I tried to map out all my adventures and stops in life since high school on a map. I guess I figured seeing where I had been would help chart the path ahead.

Finishing undergraduate had put a big ? on my future and I feel it was a pretty low part of my life. Friends had moved on to jobs and careers and I just could not see my future on a day to day basis.

Weird part time jobs and living at home..... all in the middle of a terrible recession.... it was crushing. All the occupy movement stuff going on ..I can feel the uncertainty of a young person graduating to face an unknown...... Getting in to RIT was a gamble - but the acceptance letter gave me a path and I knew where I would be for the next two years. Just that feeling of knowing where you would be and doing for that small period of time.... it was a great emotional relief. I was incredibly happy. The optimism was a foreshadowing. RIT ( as a period in my life) was a fantastic experience and I never worked so hard or felt so creative. Between the work, new friends and coming to terms with my sexuality.... I really felt myself shift into the person I knew I could be.

**you'll notice I misspelled Public Safety on the flyer. Yes - I ended up sending this out to friends and family before the dawn of spell check

Holidays in Syracuse.

It was again time in December for our annual holiday get together. I always use it as reason to get house projects started and completed. And they get completed..just maybe not in a timely fashion. This year I tuned up the living room. Repaired the walls, new paint, lighting and some furniture.

Unfortunately the lighting gave me trouble almost down to the last day - which in turn put me WAY behind with getting ready for the actual party. hence my grand visions of 6 Fondue pots never materialized ( we got 1 going) Butwhattodo? Thankfully my sisters and father were on hand along with several friends to lend a hand. Folks let us know they had a great time - so it makes you wonder what(?) makes a good party? Must be the people...... :O)

Thankful for much

The family joined Eric and I in Syracuse this year for the annual turkey burn. I used the opportunity to test run an fondue recipe for the upcoming Holiday party at our house.

While dinner was cooking, Many of the gang watched the Thanksgiving sporting event on the television. I think it was the "Brown ball " sport.

I also was initiated into the celebration rite for when one obtains a turkey at no cost due to shopping receipts. It is entitled "FreeBird!" And there was much rejoicing.

A Fabulous 50th






















A beautiful weekend here in upstate New York as we celebrated my sister Cathy's 50th birthday. The day's adventure started with a tour of some fun wineries on the east side of Seneca lake as we headed towards Geneva for the evening. The various wineries and settings proved much fodder for our goofy ways AND we actually tasted some wines as well.















































After the tour and some hotel checking in, we arrived at Belhurst castle. First time I had actually been there. A fantastic ( and haunted! ) mansion located at the top of Seneca lake. Dinner was quite Yum Yum and then there was cake!!









A friend remarked on Facebook that Mom must be smiling and I am sure she is.

Aunt Catherine's 88th and Lucy's debut

Cousin Danielle and Pete organized a trip back east for everyone to meet our newest cousin Lucy Clare this past weekend. We made an double occasion out of the visit and all met in Scranton to help celebrate Aunt Catherine's 88th birthday at Marywood.

Lucy Clare made the rounds with all the cousins and there was much cake to be had.

Saturday night we all went out for Irish food and afterwards Kristin hosted a mini celebration for my sister Cathy's 50th birthday. The family will be getting together later for the big party, but we sampled some truffles in the hotel lobby as a warm up for the party in 2 weeks.





A great weekend!

Vintage

Las Vegas 1962 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Love all the vintage neon footage. Hopefully I will get to use it for an upcoming project.

Updates from a busy summer.









Well, Labor day just sped by. I cannot say it's been the most productive summer. Work has been unreal since June this summer. Of course, I have been telling people work has been nutty since last fall - but it just kept piling on since then. With lots of testing and my main project heating WAY up... I have been a little of a zombie as of late. This summer was supposed to be vacation catch up for Eric and I. Last summer i short circuited our vacations to get ready for Burning Man - with the idea that THIS summer - was catch up. But it did not happen. Our trip to Cape Cod in July was nixed due to late efforts to get a reservation - so we planned to do a walk about in the camper. But that fell through due to my work schedule...so Mr. Eric spent a vacation week hanging out at the house by himself. By the time I thought I could get away from work - ( immediately after labor day) I got a surprise finding out that Cedar Point basically shuts down for the weekdays after the holiday :O( So our summer consisted of a little bit of camping with friends and a minor amount of house work. Still, managed to catch up with old friends while camping and make some new ones along the way...



New disha-washa installed



Salt City VW show



Late night frog visitor at camp