The following is an e-mail I received moments ago from my mother, who just landed for a short vacation with my father in Prague. Hopefully other gems of this sort will land in my inbox. Readers should take note in subsequent e-mails of her themes of: personal misery in what should be an amazing situation, exhaustion, the love she posses for her children, her longing for her bed/dog, ice cream/ice cream products, my fathers eating habits. Enjoy.
THE PLANE WAS LOADED WITH SCREAMING CHILDREN AND BARKING DOGS. IT WAS NOT A BAD FLIGHT. IT IS COLD IN PRAGUE AND I AM GLAD I BROUGHT A FEW LEATHER JACKETS WITH US. SO FAR NO RAIN BUT IT LOOKS THREATENING. WE SAW THE LIST OF OUR FELLOW TRAVELERS...WE NEED 8 MORE TO MAKE A MINYON. WE SPENT THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON WANDERING AROUND PRAGUE AND HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE CITY. DAD FOUND THE CHOCOLATE AND GELATTO PLACES SO ALL IS WELL.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Ball of Confusion
josh_cathy_kathleendrew's wedding
Originally uploaded by catheterhero
Cathy laughed last night when I called this blog "our blog." I guess I failed to clue her in that she is expected to post on here as well.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Mama Mia!
This past weekend was my second cousins Bar-Mitzvah. They live just over the boarder in NoVa but I am horrible and don't make nearly enough effort to see them. The hands-down leader and matriarch of this side of my family is my great-Aunt. As a young child, compared to my adorable grandmother (one day I will do a post about my grandmother her diet of coffee milkshakes) she scared me. I can now recognize she is a sweet as she is tough, but that's a whole lot of sweet to counter than amount of toughness. She grew up in South Philly in a three-bedroom house with 10 other children. That has got to give you a stiff upper-lip. I hardly made it to 18 living with just one sibling.
She is creeping up on 90 and her husband is 96. They still live in the same house they have been in for years, she volunteers all over the community, and has no problem telling you like it is.
Her husband is not in the best of shape. He has been in and out of the hospital for a few years. Being 96 ain't easy. This past Friday he took ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. My great-aunt was able to see him off, make sure he was comfortable, and still had the will to cook a huge meal for 14 people that night.
At the Bar-Mitzvah, the Rabbi made an announcement about my great Uncle had taken ill and would not be able to make it to the Bar Mitzvah. My mother who had driven down that morning from Philly for the event and who was born without that crucial cerebral component known in the scientific world as a filter, leaned over to me and whispered at a volume that can only be described as deafening, "looks like we'll be coming back down soon!' Thanks for the heads-up mom.
Later that night Cathy and I went to a graduation party for a good friend that has been working on getting this whole college business behind her for a good long while. To celebrate, Cathy made jello shots and tried to get everyone to do keg stands. She is 31. She should be ashamed.
She is creeping up on 90 and her husband is 96. They still live in the same house they have been in for years, she volunteers all over the community, and has no problem telling you like it is.
Her husband is not in the best of shape. He has been in and out of the hospital for a few years. Being 96 ain't easy. This past Friday he took ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. My great-aunt was able to see him off, make sure he was comfortable, and still had the will to cook a huge meal for 14 people that night.
At the Bar-Mitzvah, the Rabbi made an announcement about my great Uncle had taken ill and would not be able to make it to the Bar Mitzvah. My mother who had driven down that morning from Philly for the event and who was born without that crucial cerebral component known in the scientific world as a filter, leaned over to me and whispered at a volume that can only be described as deafening, "looks like we'll be coming back down soon!' Thanks for the heads-up mom.
Later that night Cathy and I went to a graduation party for a good friend that has been working on getting this whole college business behind her for a good long while. To celebrate, Cathy made jello shots and tried to get everyone to do keg stands. She is 31. She should be ashamed.
Monday, May 4, 2009
slick rick
As if you didn't know.....
Cathy has been hard at work getting her boutique off the ground. This weekend we spent part of the time shopping for fixtures, part of the time eating crabs, and the rest working on the space. I stripped and sanded a flight of stairs (I am getting good at this) and Cathy tried her luck stripping a cute bookshelf we nabbed for $5. The chemicals will no doubt give us flipper babies. This might be an improvement (at least for the Chung's).
The flooring is finally in. Here is a little shot of what the space is looking like.
We also spent Saturday night out with some friends at Blob's Park, getting our Polka on. I am so thankful this place has reopened. It seems that the developers who purchased this Maryland landmark in order to construct another suburban wasteland were fearful of building in this economic climate so they leased the venue back to the Blob family. We checked out the great Alex Meixner, accordion freak, who I brought out to the National Folk Festival this past July. At some point early in the evening an older gentleman said to our friend Ashby "it feels like Germany, 1943 in here." I am not sure if I am supposed to be offended by that.
Here are some shots of Cathy and I scaring people on the dance floor. They were taken by the wonderul Michael Stewart who happened to be at Blob's shooting Alex for an upcoming record.
Cathy has been hard at work getting her boutique off the ground. This weekend we spent part of the time shopping for fixtures, part of the time eating crabs, and the rest working on the space. I stripped and sanded a flight of stairs (I am getting good at this) and Cathy tried her luck stripping a cute bookshelf we nabbed for $5. The chemicals will no doubt give us flipper babies. This might be an improvement (at least for the Chung's).
The flooring is finally in. Here is a little shot of what the space is looking like.
We also spent Saturday night out with some friends at Blob's Park, getting our Polka on. I am so thankful this place has reopened. It seems that the developers who purchased this Maryland landmark in order to construct another suburban wasteland were fearful of building in this economic climate so they leased the venue back to the Blob family. We checked out the great Alex Meixner, accordion freak, who I brought out to the National Folk Festival this past July. At some point early in the evening an older gentleman said to our friend Ashby "it feels like Germany, 1943 in here." I am not sure if I am supposed to be offended by that.
Here are some shots of Cathy and I scaring people on the dance floor. They were taken by the wonderul Michael Stewart who happened to be at Blob's shooting Alex for an upcoming record.
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![Us:](<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kohn/3422505979/" title="BBQ by thetour, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3596/3422505979_203e0bab65_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="BBQ" /></a>)