One of my happiest moments on stage back in college was playing my soul sister, Lucy van Pelt, in “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” The Peanuts gang is tasked with writing “a book report on Peter Rabbit” and the characters each approach the musical assignment in their own way. Lucy, of course, concentrates on the number of words required and is very, very, very careful to hit 100 on the nose. Funny thing, I remember back in second grade…
Since he was a wee lad, James’s musical preference was clear. He’s a metal head. Even before James could sit up unsupported, oldest brother Thomas would sit with him or prop him up in a bean bag chair and crank up Metallica. From the very start, the baby’s tiny head would bob to the beat. No doubt about it, he was a head-banger. As he got a bit older, James would crawl up onto the rocking chair and point at…
So where did Dad fit in with yesterday’s post about 8th grade graduation? He and Mom were both born in 1930 (his birthday is May 28, so he’s slightly younger). He should have been in that photo, too, right? One would think … Dad’s family moved from Lowell, Massachusetts, to New Haven in 1943. They moved in right across the street from the Cassidys on Chatham Street. The Vayos at number 32 and the Cassidys at 33. Dad started out…
Nowadays, there are graduation ceremonies to celebrate moving on from nearly every grade and every activity. It used to annoy me until I realized the end result could be a photo like this one: Back in my parents’ day, though, it took many years of study to achieve a graduation ceremony. At St. Francis School in New Haven, Connecticut, there was even a group portrait taken when the class passed out of 8th grade. There’s Mom – Joan Cassidy- in…
My mom and her sister, Bunny, are what sisters ought to be. To this day, they stay in touch regularly and visit when they can. Mom was born April 6, 1930 and christened Joan Virginia Cassidy. Her sister, whom we’ve always called Bunny, arrived a few years later, on January 17, 1933. Cecelia Frances Cassidy was her given name; first name for her mother and middle name for her dad. The good Lord gifted both sisters with red hair. ‘Twas…
There’s something about the 25th of each month. Ever since I was a kid, something clicked in my brain: Christmas is coming! And today is Christmas in July. Gary and I packed light for our visit to Connecticut last week, knowing that we’d have plenty of extra stuff to bring back for use in the Too Much Brudders blog. Indeed, Dad had assembled a pile of photos and family keepsakes dating back 100 years. One of the first photographs to…
As a child of the ’60s, my introduction to robots was the limb-flailing “Danger, Will Robinson!” creation of the TV show Lost in Space. I wanted one. Flash forward to 2019, and I keep that nosy Siri turned off, don’t want a Roomba sweeping my floors, and somehow manage to type my own texts. So imagine my horror when Gary and I came across this creature, stalking us during our recent visit to Connecticut. We were in the Stop &…
This whole retirement thing has been a fascinating experiment. Tomorrow marks the start of Week 2; the most interesting part so far has been the reaction of my (now former) co-workers. “What will you do?” “Will you stay in the area?” “Will you travel? All questions were accompanied by looks of deep concern. It was baffling. The worst part was the incessant use of the term “your next chapter.” So in fact, those questions were: What will you do in…
When I showed this photo to grandson Cameron, 6, his reaction was immediate: “Goose! Goose! Is that Frosty the Snowman?” My grandson calls me Goose. I hope he never stops. The photo is from Saturday. James (the freshman who’s technically a sophomore at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) sent it. That’s James (Uncle James if your name is Cameron) the third builder in from the right. Wearing a toasty-warm blue jacket. But no hat and no gloves. As a side note,…