Meet the Bass Pro Fishing Club

That's right...the Bass Pro Fishing Club, Grandpa and Andrew. Plain and simple, these guys just like fish. Club activities include:

• visiting the local Bass Pro Shop,
• reading and chatting about fish,
• drawing fish,
• looking at fish in their aquariums and buying new ones,
• visiting the local aquarium,
• discussing tackle and bait (especially yums and night crawlers), and 
• fishing, be it in saltwater or freshwater.

So far, the duo has "tackled" the Delaware Bay, a saltwater creek, some Ohio streams and a river, and some local ponds and lakes. These two even have uniforms. Check out these recent club photos!

Club members Andrew Phillip, President; and Phillip John, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer, contemplate their next catch.

Meet Nathaniel, my almost two-year-old nephew, son of my sister and her husband Tom. What a little starshine! Little pumpkie!

The farm and reunions

This year will be year of the reunion.

In May, my friend and I are planning to attend our 25th college reunion at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, where my mother grew up. I know that there are some new buildings, and I would like so see them. I guess I had better try to lose those extra pounds.

In June, we are having a family reunion at my parent's home in central Ohio ("the farm"). This cabin or lodge is located in the woods near a river and was built by local Amish. There is also a very old cabin just yards away that is over 100 years old. The land on which both stand was home to my grandparents until their deaths almost 30 years ago, so when I am there, I always remember them. When people ask me where the cabins are, I explain that they are near Kenyon College.

Here is a photo of the old cabin, where our first family reunions were held, followed by three photographs of the new cabin (which is yards away from the old). This old cabin brings back a lot of memories. I would not go inside it now. For all I know, there are snakes hibernating in there.

Christmas magic

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Click Read More to see this year's photos.

Christmas spidey boy

My son is not really into superheroes these days. In fact, his thing is sharks, fishing, bats, and Bakugan (definitely the hit toy this year). But when I saw these spiderman jammies, I had to get them. They are a riot. He looks like he is part bat. I asked him to pose, and neither of us could help from laughing. "I look absolutely ridiculous," he said. Maybe so, but how cute!

Evil fossilmax? Be forewarned...

Three weeks ago my mother broke her right femur, after tripping "gently" over a dog. This occurred after having taken fosamax, a drug manufactured by Merck pharmceuticals, for over ten years. As incredible as it is, the week or so before, her sister, another long-time fosamax user, had broken her left femur. It's scary, to say the least. Following successful surgeries, they have both been fitted with titanium rods (her sister actually had one set in each femur). The bottom line is that fosamax users should take heed. My mother tells me no woman should take the drug for longer than five years. Read about the class action suit below.

Click here!

Shouldn't have had those cookies...

Well, here I am up in the middle of the night. I shouldn't have woofed down those chocolate chip cookies left over from Christmas dinner. Then there was that loooong nap in the middle of the day. I still don't like my layout, but I am working on it! Please feel free to comment and suggest tips for improvement. :)

Getting started!

Welcome to my first blog posting. I have always wanted to have a blog, and there were many times things were on my mind that I wanted to post about, but alas, I had no blog. I just didn't have time to get one together. So, here we go. I expect it will be a bit of a bumpy process for awhile, but there's love in the learning. By the way, happy holidays!