Graduation Day 2010 ~ wrap up (I think)

I've been going on and on about our daughter Allegra's graduation, but I had a lot of photos so I decided to split them into several posts. So sue me. ;-)

This is Allegra with her friend, Scott, who received a master's degree in psychology on Sunday.

The cool thing about Scott is that he was the first University of Hartford student Allegra and I met when we visited the campus. He was a sophomore when he gave us a tour of the school, when Allegra was a senior in high school. He was (and is) funny and personable and she and I both liked him immediately.

When she started there as a freshman they became friends, and have been friends ever since.

And he now has a master's degree! Way to go, Scott!

He is going to be a school psychologist, and has an internship lined up at a high school near where we live, coincidentally enough.

Sunday was a long day, but a good one. That is, until something really strange came upon yours truly, as I was sitting with my family having a celebration dinner.

Maybe God was punishing me for ordering a mixed drink. Maybe Patti the Good is not supposed to order mixed drinks. (I usually will just get a glass of wine with dinner.)

But I wanted to toast our daughter in style, so she and I both ordered a Cosmopolitan, something we had never had. It was made with cranberry juice and was delicious.

While we were eating and I was sitting there minding my own business, I got a shooting pain in my left ankle bone. It was horrible. I never had anything like that happen before.

I couldn't get comfortable. Even sharing tiramisu with Ralph didn't help. It hurt. I had to go out to the car and relax, but I could barely walk out of the restaurant. Putting weight on my foot was painful.

When we got home I immediately laid down and elevated my foot. I decided to take a pain reliever; I did and promptly fell asleep. Two hours later I was fine and it didn't hurt any more.

What happened? I haven't a clue.

My only thought is that I walked a long distance in sandals (although they are almost flat heels) and I pulled something. I should have just gone barefoot, I guess. Here you can see that Ralph and Cameron were a bit ahead of me. By that point I had given up trying to keep up!

Ruby Tuesday ~ graduation reds

We is proud! Our daughter Allegra graduated cum laude Sunday from the University of Hartford. Woo hoo!

You can read about it here, and here. ;-)

We took lots of photos, and I'm going to write one more post about it.

Here she is with her dad the day before graduation at a reception. Notice red balloons in background.

I spotted this floral decoration planted in front of the stage for the festivities ~ the school's colors are red and white.

And this pansy planting has some red in it as well.

And of course the program.

See many more pix featuring a little or a lot of red at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

Graduation Day 2010 ~ Part Deux

I am continuing my reportage, as it were, on Sunday's commencement at the University of Hartford.

Here's our dapper Ralph trying to determine the whereabouts of Allegra, before the morning festivities got under way.

And this is when he found her and they were chatting...

Not only were Allegra and Ralph seeing eye to eye on graduation day, they were also seeing foot to foot. (Actually that makes no sense. The picture was just an attempt on my part to be artsy).

Allegra sure was animated. She's usually quite quiet.This is similar, but not exactly the same, as a photo in the previous post.

And now it's afternoon, outside the sports center ~ Reich Family Pavilion, to be precise. The College of Arts and Sciences, which has the most students, held its ceremony inside the gym. That's when the students received their diplomas. It was a rather loud gathering!

I have more, but that's for another day.

We've got us a cum laude graduit! (sequel to Friday's post)

Proud. Sad. Tired. Sunburned ... but mostly, Proud. I am trying to put into words what yesterday was like for me, and for Ralph.

We watched Kid One, Allegra, graduate from the University of Hartford. I'll write more than one post, because we have lots of pictures that I am sorting through ~ and I'm also trying to recuperate today. Please stay tuned!

We didn't know Allegra would be a cum laude graduate, but we sure are happy it says that on her diploma.

Daddy and daughter before the main ceremony ~ before we all got tired, and hungry, and sunburned! It was perfectly glorious weather. We couldn't have asked for better.

And here are the three of us. One of the security folks offered to take a photo.

Cameron, Kid Two, was asked to work at the commencement. He ended up on stage, in the background, working on the logistics of having the ceremony stream live on the Internet. Allegra has a photo of him working onstage, but it's on her camera, and she's asleep so it will have to wait.

Ralph took this as I was off looking for my mother and our close friend so that we could sit together...I found them and brought them over to our seats.

We all got equal amounts of sunburn on our faces, because we were in the direct sun for about two hours. It suddenly felt like summer here in Connecticut.

Well that's it for now...need to take a break from the computer!

Shadow Shot Sunday

It was such a beautiful morning Monday that I was able to snap some shadow shots while doing this story about a flagpole (see top photo) local veterans had installed in the Olde Derby Uptown Burial Ground in Derby, Ct. to honor veterans from centuries ago.

The veterans' groups place American flags on the graves of veterans throughout the area every Memorial Day weekend, but the problem is many of these centuries-old gravestones are illegible, and so it is unclear whether the person was a veteran or not.

The flagpole was placed there to honor all veterans interred at the site.

If you click on the link you'll see the headline on my story on the Web site is missing a letter - it should say "all" not "ll." I didn't do it!

This beautiful historic cemetery, situated on a sloping hill near the Naugatuck River, is said to be the oldest public cemetery in the United States.

See many more Shadow Shots at our awesome Aussie friend Tracy's blog, Hey Harriet.

We got us a graduit!

Kid One, our daughter Allegra, is graduating from college Sunday. But more on that later, after we see her get her degree. (sniff, tear)

This is Allegra waiting for the big yellow school bus on the first day of kindergarten in August, 1993. She was so looking forward to starting school. She was ready, even though she was not yet 5.

I remember the kids had to wear a piece of paper with their name, teacher's name and school bus number around their necks for the first few days of school.

I don't know if you can see it here, but in case you did and were wondering,..

Yard art

This week a friend of mine is a guest poster. She recently posted this photo on Facebook.

I thought it was a cool-looking birdhouse and I asked her if I could use the photo for Yard Art on Thursdays.

See more yard art pix at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

Sepia scenes ~ Colonial cemetery

History comes "alive" here.

Monday I visited what is said to be the oldest public cemetery in the United States. It's in Derby, Ct., less than two miles from our house.

How do you like the skull on the top of this sunken headstone? More than one person in the family had a stone like this. Eeek. Many of these ancient headstones were half-sunk into the ground.

As you can see, Mr. Wooster was the first settler here wa-a-a-ay back in 1651. This monument was installed at a much later date.

I thought this impressive 19th-century gravestone looked good in sepia, but I prefer the original below. I think it's because it was such a picture-perfect blue sky when I snapped it. Notice both husband and wife died on Christmas Day. He died in 1841 and she in 1869.

See many more sepia-fied photos at Sepia Scenes, a meme hosted by Mary T, The Teach.

Love at first sight (not site)

Once upon a time, long before the Internet, there were dating services.

I signed up; so did Ralph. No, they weren't lonely hearts clubs; it was just a way to meet people that supposedly had similar interests, education, and the like.

It was a lot of fun, opening the mail and getting names of guys who were potential dates. I met more people than I wish to reveal here!

I was on my second dating service when I met Ralph in 1985. We agreed to meet at a restaurant. I actually was there before him. He was so angry with himself that he was five minutes late!

We hit it off on the first date..he did most of the talking (nothing has changed) and I liked the way he told me all about his family and his life. I knew then how important family is to him!

Well, we tied the knot on May 10, 1986...and today we celebrate 24 years of marriage.

That sounds like a long time, but as we know, time flies when you're having fun.

I think we're having fun. I keep asking Ralph if we are, and he always says yes.

Ruby Tuesday ~

This flag is a new addition to an old cemetery about which I wrote a story today.

And pink perennials! They're a shade of red that I hope qualifies for Ruby Tuesday.

Visit our hostess, Mary T, to see many more photos featuring shades of red.

P.S. My husband wrote such a nice post about our 24th wedding anniversary today that I am having writer's block. I can't come up with anything! So what can I say but:

~ Happy Anniversary to my guy ~

Pink is the word

On Thursday I attended a rally that kicked off the local hospital's $1 million fund-raising campaign to build a breast wellness center.

The theme of the event was "For Love of Life, For Lives We Love."

So many of us know a friend, a sister, an aunt, or in my case my mother and grandmother, who have had breast cancer.

Since today is Mother's Day, I thought it was fitting to link the story here.

The committee co-chair, who is a 20-year survivor of the disease, talked about the importance of early detection in saving lives and surviving. Let this post be a reminder to all of us!

~ Mystery photo answer ~

Hi all,

The mystery shadow (in today's previous post) is from the old charcoal grill on the patio. Thanks for playing along.

We are going to trash the grill. It's rusted out.

Ralph sent away for a hibachi. He remembers his parents using one in the good old days. I hope he likes it!

Shadow Shot Sunday

Another week, another chance to seek shadows in our world. And take photos of them. And post the photos on our blogs!

I didn't have to go far to find these shadows.

Below I give you a mystery photo:

Any guesses?

Go check out lots of shadowy pix at Hey Harriet, hosted by our Aussie friend, Tracy, in Brisbane.

I wish a Happy Mother's Day weekend to all!

More azaleas

I just went outside and took a few more azalea photos. They won't last much past Mother's Day, unfortunately.

Yes, they do need a bit of a trim. We'll get to it.

Happy Friday to all!

Springtime re-post

It's a beautiful sunny morning here and I thought I would re-post a photo I took last spring of our Rigby.

He passed away two months ago. We all miss his "loopiness" around here, that's for sure.

My nickname for him was "McLoopy."

His brother, Linus, is known as "McSqueaky." He frequently squeaks to me, when he isn't "gakking" at me, that is.

His way of conversing, I guess.

=^. .^=

SpRiNg!

White azalea in the morning sun.

This is a "bleeding heart" plant, also know by its official name, Dicentra. The delicate pink blossoms don't last long; but it's a hardy perennial and will remain a green plant for the summer.

Sepia scenes - blowin' in the wind

Just dandy.

This is our front yard. It was just mowed the other day, but they came ba-a-a-ack.

Visit Mary T's Sepia Scenes blog to see many more sepia-fied photos!

Ruby Tuesday

We have several azalea bushes that came with the house when we purchased it in 1991 - they are shades of deep pink, pale purple (or lavender!) and white. Here are two of them for this week's Ruby Tuesday post.

See many more photos featuring red or shades thereof at Mary T's Work of the Poet.

You've got to be kidding

A friend who has put her house on the market was telling me yesterday that it has been an eye-opening experience.

She and her husband have a dog and two kitty cats. One couple looking at the house asked if they would be taking their animals with them.

She was shocked, as I would be! As if their pets were part of the furnishings, or garden tools or something.

I just don't understand some people.