Category: Move to MMMM

It is Really All About Your Kids!

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[Flashback Post – Originally written in 2014]
I came across this one from my early blogging days, and I still believe every word. Back then, all four kids were finding their footing, and we were learning what “letting go” really means as parents. A decade later, not much has changed — the love, the worry, and the joy of helping them (and now their kids) are still part of everyday life.

As a Parent, You Want to Take Care of Them and their Kids Forever!

 

Several years ago, we were in Virginia either taking my daughter Elizabeth to school or visiting. Either way we were driving down the main drag in Williamsburg when we received a phone call from the home were my mother was living. The home was requesting my permission to take away her phone, Mom suffered from Parkinson’s disease and the medication she was taking often left her with very real delusions. These delusions often resulted in her thinking that people came in buses to take residents from the home to Ohio, She luckily had not been among those chosen to be removed! Other delusions included a fear of being arrested because one of the nurses hid cocaine in her stuffed monkey.

At the time of the phone call, she believed that one of the male residents was out to kill her and that night she had called 911 because he was in her room!! Needless to say, there was no man, but the home still had to call me to get permission to take her phone to avoid any repeats of the mess she created

Sometime after that incident mom wasn’t taking her medicine and things were getting worse. We decided that what we would do was to tell her we weren’t coming anymore until see took her medicine.

When we called my cousin to tell her that was what we were doing, she went off on my wife saying that we didn’t care, and that everything was about our kids!

Finally she told my wife we had to stop doing for them because they were grownups and we had to let them go!” Now I will say that my cousin was always great with my mom, but she was wrong about needing to let go of our kids. As a parent that is impossible! They are your kids, they come first, and they always will!

Since then my oldest son his moved out and lives by himself in Mount Laurel. My two middle sons have married and both have made us grandparents and my daughter has lived on here own in Delaware while attending graduate school at the University of Delaware. So they are all on their own and doing fine, But guess what they are still “our kids” and we still have to do for them, in a good way!

Obviously, one way is the babysitting I do for my grandchildren, I love it and I know it help them out!! Last Saturday was a great day and a perfect example of  how you need to help out!!  

The morning started with me taking my daughter to a training session for her summer job. The training was being held in a school about 30 minutes away. I took her because a friend was picking her up they were going to a concert in Philly in the afternoon., After the concert  they come back to our house, Where by the way, they were both going to get to see Miss Zoe!!

In the afternoon, I took my oldest son out car shopping, His 2001 Hyundai Elantra which has been in the family forever is on its last legs .We had gone out earlier in the week, saw some possible used cars but the deals weren’t right. But Saturday evening, we found a good deal and he bought a new car, yeah!! See I hate car shopping, but you have to do what you have to do!!

Saturday ended nicely when Peter and Missy brought baby Zoe over, so that we all got to see her! Peter and Missy had been out shopping and stopped first at the car dealership to check out the car and then came to the house!

The only way the day could have been better is if we had been able to see Andrew. Meaghan and Oliver, too. Because you see it IS all about “our kids” and now :”their kids” are added into the mix and that’s the way that I think it’s supposed to be!!

Featured Picture: Zoe’s biggest smiles came, when she was on her daddy’s shoulders!

[2025 reflection] Reading this now, I realize how much those days shaped what life looks like today. The kids are grown, the grandkids are thriving, and somehow, it still feels like the same circle — just wider and richer.

A Somewhat Trying, Long……but still great day with Oliver!

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Isn’t Everyday with a Grandchild?

 

So today started off a little shaky, I woke up at a 3 minutes before 6 o’clock, which is about 27 minutes later than I usually get up on a morning that I am babysitting Oliver. As a result, I had to run around feed the cats, make my lunch and gather my stuff, which meant I didn’t have time for a short yoga routine. I was looking forward to yoga, because last week it seemed to do a good job getting me in the mood for a fairly strenuous day with my grandson. The picture at the top of this post gives you all an idea of what babysitting Oliver may be like.His mother posted on my Facebook timeline the other day……Asking: Does this remind you of anyone??

Well,  Spidey Oliver was in good form today, climbing on the back of the loveseat to turn the air conditioner on and off, as well as on the coffee table to drive granddad crazy!! And taking him off either of those things was not an easy thing,,because it is hard to hold on to a 15 month old baby, as they are throwing themselves backwards and arching their back!   I was going to text my wife the above, but my phone died! (because I was running around this AM and I forget the charging cable!!)  Anyway, all of that climbing got Mr Man three walks around his neighborhood in the stroller, which he enjoys and I do, too!

We also played a lot with the wooden house-shaped shape sorter that my daughter bought for him. He can get two of the shapes in the house (if granddad lines up the right one on the roof) He gets so proud himself for getting them in! I think he’s pretty amazing manipulating them, also! We also read a lot,. I am trying to get him to interact more with the stories instead of just listening. We sit with the books and I have him point out certain animals, etc. He enjoys it, and it makes the sitting time last a little longer!!

All and All while it’s a long day, full of lots of walking around, both in the house, (well sometimes it’s running if he makes it to the coffee table before me), and around the neighborhood, it still beats working at Lippincott or anywhere else for that matter!!

“Und You vill Do Everything I Want You to Do……..you will not resist” …….. could you? I can’t!

Oliver You Will do

Running with the Empirical Ghost of Lis er Stille

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The Run….

So while Elizabeth conquered the Broad Street 10 miler yesterday, I conquered the RG Riverside half a ten miler on Saturday, running five miles for the first time this year!! I had set out to run a 4.2 mile course I call the Harper Loop. I have not run that course yet this year mainly because it has a long ascent up Pancoast Avenue and then another shorter ascent up Fairview to Harper. Followed by a descent and short ascent along Harper followed by a longer descent down Cranberry Lane.  I did well keeping a slower and steady pace knowing that the hills would be a challenge. The first three miles were 10:44, 11:06, and 10:54 beat you can guess where the hills were!! I slowed down on mile four because I hadn’t really run a four miler with hills and I was tired. But when I stabilized my breathing thanks to the rhythms of Lis er Stille, I didn’t feel too bad, so I thought “let’s see if I can go five”, knowing that Lizzie was doing ten on Sunday! At least I could do a half of that!!

Boy did the mileage on the GPS on the iPhone increase slowly over that last mile!! I ended up going a lot farther than I thought I would need to go to make that last mile! My last two miles were in 11:47 and 11:39. At least the last mile was slightly faster!! My final time was 56:34. Lizzie’s split at the five-mile mark was 54:38 so I would have only been a minute and change behind her!!

When I told my wife that she said “You don’t have to beat her, you’re 63 and she is 24!” True I thought but hell I’ve been running for most of those years and she’s been running for two!, besides I’d like to be better than her at something!! Anyway, both my 5 mile run and Lizzie’s run have motivated me…. hopefully I can stay motivated!!

The Soundtrack: Empirical Ghost – Lis er Stille from Denmark

The soundtrack for the run was Empirical Ghost from Lis er Stille. Lis er Stille is a Danish prog rock band. They are cataloged in the Post Rock/Math rock sub-genre.

Lis Er Stille is a band from Denmark founded in 2004 as an art project between the painter Vindril and singer Martin Byrialsen. The idea of this project was for Martin to make Vindril’s paintings into music, but as time passed the music grew and a band was build from it….

…When looking at Lis Er Stille from the surface most of their compositions resemble that of post-rock bands as well as some alternative rock bands like Muse, Coldplay and others, but there’s also a prog rock undertone in them. Some people recall past prog rockers when hearing Lis Er Stille while most will likely see links with the modern prog and related bands. Highly recommended for fans of post-rock and the modern alternative / prog bands. Full Biography at ProgArchives.

lis er stille - press photo - by kasper hemme

lis er stille – press photo – by kasper hemme

The musician line-up for the album is….

Martin Byrialsen / Vocals + Keyboards
Asbjørn Helboe / Bass
Tue Schmidt Rasmussen / Guitars
Jon Gotlev / Drums

The music is distinctive and good and I kinda like the vocals. The one bad thing about the album is that is short for a progressive rock album clocking in at 52 minutes for the ten tracks. So the album is great for a four mile run but comes up short (in length only) for a slow five-mile run!! Now what may be a challenge is to complete the run before the end of the album!! To do that I would need to run the course at a 10:24 pace! A challenge for later in the year!!

Links for Further Explorations of Lis er Stille

Official Website: Bandcamp
Facebook
ProgArchives

Here’s a video for the track “Gold Future” from Empirical Ghost by Lis er Stille

 

 

 

 

Saturday Potpouri:Broad Street Run and more….

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Broad Street Run, Books, children and grandchildren,  NFL draft, does it get better?

So today has been a busy and very nice day.It started with a trip into Philly to pick up my daughter Elizabeth’!s race packet for tomorrow’s Broad Street run. She will be running down Broad Street tomorrow along with around 39000 other people! She has to be at the start at 7:40 for the 8:00 start. Since there is no parking for 40000 people at the street we have to park at the Sport’s complex and take Septa to the start and then I will have to travel back by Septa to the finish at the Navy yard! I don’t know if I will go all the way at once or go half way and wait to see her and then go to the finish. The question is will I be able to see her among the crowd of runners! Anyway it should be interesting. Wish us luck!  Oliver sent his advice to Aunt Lizzie via his talented mommy!!

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On the way back, we stopped at the Cinnaminson branch of the Burlington County Library. Their spring book sale was today! Controlling my impulse to take them up on their offer of a bag full of small paperback books for $3.00, I only bought two small paperbacks for .50 cents each,along with one $3.00 hardback and 2 $1.00 trade size paperbacks. The grand total six bucks for five books. Here’s what I bought…..

Sandstorm – James Rollins – this is the first Sigma Force  book and I believe it’s the only one I haven’t read!

Phobos – Steve Alten This one looked interesting and I have never read anything by the author. I found out though that the book is the third book in the series, so I want to go back and read books 1 and 2 first.j

In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien – another bestseller from O’Brien once again with a Vietnam war tie in.

The Lost City of Z – David Grann – I think I started this s book once and then got distracted! Maybe I can stay with it this time!

Fool – Christopher Moore – I started this one, too hoping to stay with it took!

After coming home my wife and daughter went to babysit Zoe and I joined them for a bit before her dad came home early and she went down for a nap! Damn she’s cute!

When Zoe went down for a nap we came home, and I watched the NFL draft. I think that at least twice when the Eagles were making their picks they went to a commercial with no scroll at the bottom. The Eagles ended up with two cornerbacks and a 6’9″ defensive end! Can you say kick.blocker!

Finally I went for a run – 5 miles half of what Elizabeth will be doing tomorrow! I will write more about that in a while! Maybe, but I do seem to be winding down and it’s getting late…. and I will be getting up early to go to Philly… maybe it’s night all after a pretty good day!

 

Bangs Trimming Can You Relate??

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Can you relate to the above?? When were your bangs cut like these!

 

Yesterday my wife updated her Facebook status using the card featured above with the accompanying tag  “almost every woman I know who grew up in the 1950’s-1960’s can relate to this one lol” So the questions before house today is, was this phenomena restricted to the 50s and 60s or is bangs’ trimming   still going on today!! Did it go on in days before the 50s!

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This Karn family photo from the 1920s suggests that it may have been going on in years past!!’ And not just in the Karn family but also in the Ashton family

Helen suffers from bangs cutting

That’s my mother, Helen Ashton with her brothers John and Jim, cousin Billy Atz and their grandmother Charlotte Regars. The photograph below suggest that maybe young men have suffered from the phenomena in the past…..
Arthur and Edward Karn

 

That’s my father on the right with his brother Arthur!! Arthur does not look pleased – but I doubt that he is pouting about his bangs!!

And the reason is that his bangs are long, as are the bangs of the others in this post. My wife has just informed me that I have missed the point of the card (not a hard thing for me to do) The point is that my wife’s mother and women of the 50s and 60s when they trimmed the bangs the bangs would be crooked, and they would keep trimming until the bangs were almost non-existent! Is that correct now ladies!

So forget about the above as far as bangs go, and enjoy them just as a part of my family history!!  As for me, my mother did strange things with my hair, too Lucky I have no memory of it!!!

edwardmartie003

 

That’s me in the center with my cousins Marti Karn and Jimmy Ashton….

Anyway The question to you ladies is can you relate to the bangs’ trimming! When did it happen to you??

ADD Sidetrack excursion…….ok so I have a plugin on my site from Zemanta that provides links and related articles for what you are writing about one of the links provided for this post was for a Helen Ashton. The link is to an article at Wikipedia. While ‘I know that it is not an article about my mother I thought the I would check it out…… here’s what I found out

Helen Rosaline Ashton (18 October 1891 – 27 June 1958) was a British novelist, literary biographer and physician….

Born in Kensington, London, Helen Ashton was the daughter of Emma Burnie and Arthur Jacob Ashton, KC, Recorder of Manchester. Her brother was Sir Leigh Ashton, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum

After her marriage, Ashton retired from medicine but continued to write. Over 43 years she published 26 books, which included several literary biographies, such as I Had A Sister (written with Katharine Davies in 1937 – a study of Mary Lamb, Dorothy Wordsworth, Caroline Herschel and Cassandra Austen), William and Dorothy (1938), and Parson Austen’s Daughter (1949) amongst others. Her first major fictional success was Doctor Serocold (1930) in which she was able to draw upon her medical knowledge. Also included amongst her fictional works were Bricks and Mortar (1932), republished in 2004 by Persephone Books, and Yeoman’s Hospital (1944), on which the 1951 film White Corridors was based. Read More

Now I wondered could their be a family connection between the Helen Ashtons’ families. My mother’s family originates as far a I know in the Holbeach, England. The farthest back I have been able to trace the line is the late 1700. early 1800s From Ancestry.com I have found a family tree for Arthur Jacob Ashton and his family in the early 1800s were living in Ashton-Under-Lyne about 120 northwest of Holbeach. No connection yet, but maybe??? Who Knows!!