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Family

You are currently browsing articles tagged Family.

Ken and Bonnie come to visit

June 8, 2009 in Family, Life, Lowcountry Living | 5 comments

Carrie, Brian, Ken and Bonnie in front of Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park, Charleston.

Carrie, Brian, Ken and Bonnie in front of Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park, Charleston.

My sister, Bonnie, and her husband, Ken, came to our house for a visit last week. Now, for those of you that read my blog, this was not the Yearly Sister Vacation. (That fun get together will take place in August this year at oldest sister Linda’s house.)  

No, this was a spouse vacation; Bon and Ken’s vacation together. I had a wonderful time and hope they did, too.  

On Sunday, we went to Charleston for the day.  The Spoleto Festival was just getting underway. This 17 day event, held each spring in the city, celebrates performing and visual arts. People from all over the world come for this event and the streets were more crowded than usual with tourists, although it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was easy to find parking and no wait for lunch at our favorite Charleston Greek Restaurant, Old Towne Grille on King Street.  

Carrie and Bonnie at the market, Charleston.

Carrie and Bonnie at the market, Charleston.

After lunch, we strolled through the market. I bought a new paring knife from the knife guy I discovered several years ago when my brother, Dennis, helped me pick out my first pocket knife from him. He also carries great kitchen knives and when I am in the market on a Sunday (the only day he sells there), I stock up on whatever kitchen cutlery I have a need for.

We walked King Street and Market Street and Meeting Street. We walked through St. Philip’s Cemetery, full of famous South Carolinians such as John C. Calhoun, Charles Pinckney, Edward Rutledge and more! We heard The College of Charleston Choir practicing inside the church while we contemplated the old bones of the dead. We had a little respite at Tommy Condon’s Irish Pub on Church Street.

Getting a llittle refreshment at Tommy Condon's Irish Pub.

Getting a little refreshment at Tommy Condon's Irish Pub.

Then we hoofed it to a little crafts fair, where Carrie found a wooden spoon and Bonnie found an Appalachian Bow Saw bread knife.

 

On Monday, Memorial Day, we took the boat out to Lake Marion. Bonnie wore a life vest at first, since she is a little afraid of the water. It was a beautiful day.

It was after she took the vest off that she almost went overboard!

It was after she took the vest off that she almost went overboard!

This was a bucket list item for her. Woohoo! We watched a movie, Big Fish, with Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Steve Bucemi, et al. Every time I watch this movie, I like it more.

Ken's big fish!

Ken's big fish! Look very closely!

And, on another day, we took the boat to Folly Island and did a little salt water fishing. We saw a few dolphins and a shrimp boat head out to sea.

The guys went golfing a few times during the course of the week. One day, while the boys hit the little white bugger, Bon and I went to Elloree. Elloree is a bucolic, quaint little town not far from here. We shopped and had lunch at Amporn’s, a Thai restaurant with the absolute best soups. Bon loves the soup so much there that we had to go back on another day for her to have it again. Matter of fact, that day, she ordered two bowls!

Here are a few other pics that tell the rest of our story!

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Idlewild Park

May 3, 2009 in Family, Life, The 60s | 25 comments

I’ve been thinking lately about a place from my youth. It’s called Idlewild Park. Idlewild is a family amusement park located in southwestern Pennsylvania, where I grew up. It is located in an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful idyllic countryside with meandering streams and lush forests known as the Laurel Highlands.

Old Time Days at Idlewild (Photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

Old Time Days at Idlewild (Photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

I loved this place, and still do! I have many happy memories of family picnics there when I was a little girl.

The school district in which we lived had a picnic at the park every year at the end of the school year. All the kids would carry a bagged lunch to the school on the very last Saturday of the school year to hop on school buses that would take them to the park for the day. But, not our family.

Oh, no! This was one of our family’s big events of the summer. And, it was a big day! Dad and Mom and, usually Grandma, would pack up the station wagon with the picnic fixings and us kids and we would drive over the mountain to get to the park as soon as it opened. The three food staples always on hand at this yearly picnic were Mom’s potato salad and pickled eggs and Grandma’s ham salad. Sometimes, we had Dad’s homemade chocolate and peanut butter fudge. And we always packed a few bottles of fix-a-drink (see the story here http://cindyscountrycorner.com/2009/03/25/fix-a-drink/).

What this meant is that our friends from school would go sit under a pavilion and eat a PB&J or a cold cut sandwich, while we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and had potato salad, ham salad and huge chunks of watermelon. The students who went to the park from school had to leave the park at 5 p.m. But, not us! We could stay till the park closed. Matter of fact, I do recall one time packing up and leaving so late that we got locked in the park! Some park attendant had to come back and let us out! We were the Griswalds before there were the Griswalds, if you know what I mean!

Some of my earliest memories are of this park. I remember going when I was very small, and too little for the “big kid” rides. So, I spent my time in Kiddie Land. My favorite ride there was one that wasn’t even motorized. It was called Kiddie Cars. You got to hop into this little car (that reminded me of a giant ice skate) and you got to pedal yourself (on a rail) around a little wooded area. If some slow poke littler kid (yes, I meant to say littler) was in front of you, then you were stuck! I used to ride the rail as fast as I could pedal and at the end, the ride attendant would tell me that I was the fastest of anyone he had ever seen in his many years of supervising that ride. So, I would naturally, pay another ticket and go around again to see if I could beat my own record! He always said I did!

But, I really couldn’t wait until I was tall enough to ride the big kid rides – the roller coaster, bumper cars and caterpillar. The Rollo Coaster at Idlewild is awesome. It is a Philadelphia Toboggan Company Rollo Coaster built and sent to the park in 1938. It is still in operation today and has been named a Classic Coaster by the American Coaster Enthusiasts.

The Rollo Coaster (photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

The Rollo Coaster (photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

The Caterpillar is an old ride, too. According to Idlewild’s website (http://www.idlewild.com/) the Caterpillar is a set of linked cars that speed around a circular track. During the ride, a green canopy covers the riders leaving them in the dark. From the outside, the covered ride resembles a caterpillar. There are only three Caterpillar rides remaining in North America with only two, including Idlewild’s 1947 model, known to still use the canopy.

The Caterpillar (photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

The Caterpillar (photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

The bumper cars, known as Skooters, were first introduced at Idlewild in 1931. The cars, themselves, have been replaced a few times over the last seven decades, but the building that houses the ride remains the same.

The Bumper Cars (Photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

The Bumper Cars (Photo courtesy of Idlewild Park)

The Merry-Go-Round is a beautiful carousal. It, too, was built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company and has been at Idlewild since 1931.

Idlewild was founded in 1878, making it the oldest amusement park in Pennsylvania. I also read somewhere that it is the third oldest park in the nation and the twelfth oldest park in the world.  It has won several awards, including five from Amusement Today as the second-best children’s park in the world.

So, I will be in western Pennsylvania in August having my yearly vacation with my three sisters. And, I want to spend one day at Idlewild. We could pack a picnic! Linda can make Mom’s potato salad. I could make Grandma’s ham salad. Bonnie could make Dad’s fudge. Pam, well, I don’t know what to have her make. We’ll think of something!

And, then, on my bucket list, I want to ride the Rollo Coaster! It’s tame by today’s standards, so I don’t think it will kill us! And, I can post the pictures on my blog! Gosh, I hope there’s not a weight restriction in order to ride!

So, I hope my sisters are up for it! And, dear readers, if you are ever in western Pennsylvania, spend a day at Idlewild Park. You won’t regret it!

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The Easter Peep

April 12, 2009 in Family, Life | 17 comments

Dedicated to my sister, Pam

When I was  seven, I decided that I wanted a real live peep for Easter. Oh, now, I didn’t know anything about raising a little peep or, if it would be a fun pet to have. I just knew that I wanted one.

So, I got my peep. It was a little blue one. And, I liked it for about a day. I didn’t know it wouldn’t stay in the box I made for it. I didn’t know it would poop icky sticky stuff all over the floors. I didn’t know it wouldn’t eat cool stuff like carrots and lettuce. I didn’t know it wouldn’t sleep in the bed with me or follow me around like a little puppy dog. So, I quickly became bored with it and it became my sister Pam’s charge. She was 10.

As the peep got older, it lost its blue feathers and got a little comb on top of its head. Poor Pam! She wasn’t stuck with a little hen that would someday lay eggs and reward her with gentleness. No, the little peep became a mean rooster that would peck her when she tried to feed it or care for it.

The rooster was moved to a rabbit pen that was located along  the back border of the yard. (I think this pen was left by the previous owners of our our house.)  This rooster would bang at the the cage if I got near him and he would flare out his neck feathers. I was scared of him and didn’t want to get near him! Pam, on the other hand, had to go feed him everyday.  He hated her, too.

On Pam’s 11th birthday, the little bugger pecked her really hard. She remembers bopping him on the head, so he would learn not to peck the hand that feeds him. (She said that he was fine after the bopping because it really wasn’t a hard bop after all.)  It being her birthday, she quickly forgot about the sweet little peep turned monster. After dark, she remembered to go feed the bird (cause that was her duty to feed all the critters). When she got to the cage, she found it dead and torn apart. A weasel must have squirmed into the cage and killed it.  And, of, course, she felt so very bad that she had bopped it earlier that day.

That’s my sister’s peep story. She related it to me recently and asked if I remembered it. Honestly, I did not until she brought it up. And, my memories about him are still a bit fuzzy.  

I do have one question for her now that I’m hoping she can answer. Did that little devil rooster have a name?

P.S. For those wondering, Pam wasn’t permanently adversely affected by what I’m now calling “The little bastard rooster incident.” Forty and some odd years later, she’s quite okay (I think)!

And, by the way, Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

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Sister Vacation

March 18, 2009 in Family, Life | 7 comments

My three sisters and I have begun planning our yearly vacation together. We have been doing this now for the past several years and it is always soooo much fun! 

You see, for years, after we had all moved away from each other, while busy raising our own families and planning our own immediate family vacations, with limited time off, we just were not able to get together at the same time at the same place very often (with the possible exception of funerals).

So, now, that the four of us are all pretty much empty nesters, and too, that we are learned in our old age about the importance of making quality time together, we make the extra effort to do so.  

We’ve used my house  in South Carolina twice for our meet-ups and we met last summer at my sister Pam’s in Colorado. And so, this year, we are planning our get together for later in the summer at Linda’s in Pennsylvania.  It will be our first time using her home and her town as our vacation paradise for a week.  And, our first chance to embarrass her at all her grocery stores, mall, movie theater, etc! Woo hoo!

I love my sister peeps. Who, but they, love you all the time, no matter what?

The pictures below are of our last get together in South Carolina.  I am saving the Colorado pictures for a separate post as I have a whole story about bucket lists, whitewater rafting, jumping off a bridge into the Poudre River and TATTOES!

And they thought I wouldn’t really embarass them. Tee hee!

This is us at Cypress Gardens. I'm at the helm, Bonnie at the stern!

This is us at Cypress Gardens. I'm at the helm, Bonnie at the stern! Linda is the platinum blonde in the middle. Pam beside her.

Pam is the butterfly. Bonnie is the caterpiller

Pam is the butterfly. Bonnie is the caterpillar.

 

This is them from the rear!

This is them from the rear!

Pineapple lush cake for Pam's birthday! You'd think four grown women could do better than this!

Pineapple lush cake for Pam's birthday! You'd think four grown women could do better than this!

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The 60s, Part 2

March 12, 2009 in Family, Life, The 60s | 2 comments

Since my last post – Make Love, Not War – I’ve been thinking about the 60s quite a bit.  And so, yesterday, while driving home from work, I remembered two events from that time period that I found to be both very revealing about the times and also about me.

Both involve my mother. And, in order to share it with you, I need to provide a little background information about my mother and me.

Mom was a Registered Nurse and during my early years she worked in the maternity ward at the hospital in town.  There were three shifts at the hospital: 7 a.m. – 3 p.m., 3 p.m. – 11 p.m. and 11 p.m. – 7 a.m. As I remember it, Mom usually worked one week on the first shift, followed by 2 days off, and then would work a week on the second shift followed by 2 days off, and then would work a week on the third shift and the two days off. Additionally, her days off were rotated with the other nurses. So, say, for instance,  she had Tuesday and Wednesday off this week, she might work seven straight days on the next shift  before her next days off of  Thursday and Friday the following week. 

Now, this is important to know because when I was a very little girl back in the 1960s, I loved when my mother was home and not at the hospital working. I spent every waking hour following her around the house, watching her do all of the house chores. I watched her wash clothes in the wringer washer. I followed her outside and watched her hang them on the line to dry. I watched her cook dinner and do the ironing, etc. And, while she did all of these things, I talked. Oh, yeah, I talked. I talked and talked and talked.

This is no lie, I used to  follow her into the bathroom and sit on the toilet seat to talk to her while she took a bath, then follow her to her bedroom to talk some more while she put on her white stockings and nurses uniform and fixed her hair at her dresser to get ready for work.  I didn’t shut up until she was in the car and on her way. I suddenly see that I never gave her any peace!  Honestly, she was probably relieved to go to work just to get away from me (although, she would have never let on that that was so).

So, back to the present, I’m in my automobile driving home, and I’m remembering all this because of the specific incident I’m going to tell you about next.

By 1963 I was in kindergarten. For part of the year, I attended school in the mornings and the other part of the year I attended in the afternoon. Well on this one specific day, I do not remember whether I was in morning kindergarten or afternoon kindergarten. But, what I do remember is sitting on my mother’s bed watching her reflection in her dresser mirror while she was getting ready to work the 3 p.m. – 11 p.m. shift at the hospital.

The date was November 22. And, John F. Kennedy had been shot. This was the first time I ever saw her cry. She wasn’t out and out sobbing. That would have never been her style.  But I saw her glistening eyes in her mirrored reflection and I was sad for her. And, she answered my never-ending questions about it, before going to work to deliver new babies into the world.

The second time I saw my mother cry during the 1960s was when I was in third grade. This was 1967, or maybe, 1968.  I went to the big city airport (Pittsburgh) with my parents to see my big brother Dennis get on an airplane that would ultimately take him to two tours in Vietnam.

On the outside, Dennis wasn’t acting a bit nervous or anxious about his future.  But, I think mom saw right through him and knew his cool demeanor was only an act.  Her eyes filled with tears as he boarded and again a little later when we watched the plane take to the sky.

So, back to present day. Yesterday. Driving home from work and thinking about these two incidents. Both say a lot about the times – the assassination of a president and a son going off to war.

And, my mother always listened to me.

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