miracle on parent rd.

My mother told me to use the same video from last year.  I just could not live with myself by re-publishing last year's tree.

Here's to another Christmas tree going up the day after Thanksgiving.  

never before seen interview with sophia grace

for still photographs of sophia's birthday party and other summer fun with all the kiddies, click here.

there is something about...

going home to the garden...picking some veggies;

and some herbs;

and making some pesto;

and calling it dinner.

There's nothing better.

glowing japanese maple

My dad wanted it to look like "the trees in front of the nice buildings in the city during the holidays."  

Well done Nick, I loved looking at this japanese maple in the snow at night on Parent Road.

holidays at home with a blizzard

the kids.

 thank god for snowblowers.

 what we make when there's left over manicotti stuffing.

 love those smurfs

‎"i am younger each year at the first snow. when i see it, suddenly, in the air, all little and white and moving; then i am in love again and very young and i believe in everything" - a. sexton to w.d. snodgras

 baby jesus.

the progression of the blizzard.

 nut cracker.

cleaning the legacy.

more holiday photos

miracle on parent rd.

Not too bad...especially with last year's christmas tree stylist on holiday.

Don't worry, I didn't put any ornaments on the bottom row of branches. I learn.

the empire party

New York City has always been a little bit faster paced and over the top compared to those other cities.  It goes above and beyond.  I don't know why, but it just does.  The City.  The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps.  Call it what you will, but I think its the people...not the buildings and the lights that make it what it is....

We are dreamers; 

and we are dancers.

We are friends;

and we are lovers.

We like to eat...

and maybe even drink a little too much;

...and sometimes we get crazy;

and even a little silly.

But we are family.

And yes, it's easy to turn your back on this concrete jungle, but for some reason when you're in this great city, on the roof top, celebrating with Danielle, Paul and the best of them...it just seems like your own little empire.  Even if the next day your memory of it all is a little blurry.

Thanks Danielle and Paul for making your wedding one of the best.  You have a beautiful family and amazing friends.  And somehow you brought them together flawlessly.  If it wasn't for your love affair we would never have had Cabo.  There would never be an empire night quite like this one.  These memories will surely last a lifetime...

i'm coming home

When I was a student at Somers High School, there was something always magical about homecoming.  Maybe it was the entire week of spirit days leading up to the football game or perhaps feeling a sense of not only having Tusker pride, but class pride as well.  On that fall weekend each year in the late-90's, the air always got a little cooler, there were parties, car pools, ridiculous clothing, and face paint all throughout Somers.  

 We were serious about our spirit.

And now...the year is 2010 and I return to that same field for the first time since I graduated.  The field is now covered in turf and the school has been redesigned.  I almost cannot even recognize it, but I notice the sea of red, black, white and silver.  There is still face paint and Tusker pride is greater than I have seen it in a long time.  

I found myself sitting with a few former classmates on this beautiful evening.  We caught up.  We reminisced.  We laughed.  We cheered.  We were Tuskers. 

Even the love birds came out.

 And I experienced the new, up and coming generation of Tuskers.
(all of these kiddies were produced by one tusker)

  Not too different from the older generation of Tuskers.

There were no class floats going around the track.  No t-shirts made with the Superman "S." There was no bon-fire. The band was half the size as I remember it.  The cheerleaders just weren't as loud without Ashley, Laura, Tara, Angela, Dana, Jacky, and Jenn screaming, "BOOM Dynamite....BOOM BOOM Dynamite."

It's okay...because I was home.

two childhood friends, a train-ride conversation and a shower

Once upon a five-twenty something train leaving Grand Central Station after a hard day's work almost a decade ago....two friends....one coming from her midtown, corporate office wearing her usual business attire and the other just making the train in her flip-flops and t-shirt having spent the day at the water park with her campers....talked like they always did for the entire sixty-three minute ride as they ventured to a place known as home.

On this particular day, it had been a while since these two friends had seen each other.  So there was a lot to catch up on...naturally.  One friend, we shall call her Danielle, mentioned that she ran into a certain boy from this place they call home and phone numbers were exchanged.  She didn't seem too interested in the prospect of this boy calling her.  The other friend, let's call her Liz, knew this certain boy came from a good italian family...so it was worth giving him a chance. No one really remembers, but chances are this conversation lasted about four minutes...not too long, because these friends only had fifty-nine minutes remaining on their ride to cover their important conversational agendas.  

Today, on this special day in July, these two friends met again in that place they call home to shower Danielle with gifts because at some point she became interested in that boy that came from a good italian family....so much, she agreed to marry him.  And like so many parties dating back to their childhood...there were friends and family giggling, endless amounts of food and drinks, children splashing in the pool, and unlike those train rides out of Grand Central, the essence of time was disregarded.  

Like all the wonderful times that brought these two friends together...whether it be for class, caulking the bath tub, a student council meeting, sweet sixteens, lunch, a drink, soccer practice, the births of their nieces and nephews, planning a prom and a ten-year reunion, getting tea, fixing the computer, filing papers at that midtown-corporate office, having a bottle of wine, birthday & graduation parties, crashing at each other's place, cooking dinner, installing wireless internet, catering gigs, key west vacations, "oh my god, how do I fix my iPod" tech support phone calls, happy hours on an expense account (something teachers know nothing about), learning about the anatomy of the eye, and those sixty-three minute train rides to that place they call home...they all must come to an end.  As this beautiful day fell into night, one friend hugged the other good-bye cherishing the past, looking forward to the future and thinking about Jean-Jacques Rousseau's words:  the more things change, the more things stay the same. 

The entire collection of Danielle's shower photos.

pup sittin'

The moonlight was shining as we caught fire flies.

Brother and sister showing some love.

Trying out some new tricks on the new bike.

Kisses for nanny.

Determined to ride.