Sarah's Graduation

Well we were finally able to celebrate our niece Sarah's graduation from High School this past weekend in Albany and the foliage or as my father would have said "foilage" was near peak. Unfortunately there was a lot of rain so it dampened the festivities only slightly. Sometimes however, a dark gray sky can actually bring out the brilliant colors of the leaves even more than a clear blue sky. I still am trying to figure out if a dry Summer means brighter colors or if it is the opposite and a wet summer means better leaves in the fall. This is my favorite time of year! If only winter didn't have to follow than it would be perfect. My nephew Alexander's football game was all the more interesting in the pouring rain. Offense/defense there is nothing the boy can't do. He is one of the better players on his league of mostly 10 year olds. In addition to Alex we were able to visit with three of my four siblings and 7 nieces and nephews. Above I've posted a picture of the Merrill 5 circa 1971 just for the heck of it. Sarah's celebration consisted of a dinner party with a couple of Sarah's friends, family friends and relatives. Diane, a friend of my sister Denise since she was 5 and a family friend forever as well came to the party with her three girls. Diane and I are Sarah's godparents and unfortunately due to technical difficulties beyond our control Sarah, Diane and I were not at Sarah's first holy communion in 1994 at the same time so Diane and I had to improvise the all important godparents/godchild shot at such a religious rite. Above is that shot plus we were able to finally get a shot while the three of us were in a room all at the same time marking another milestone in Sarah's life.

In Her Shoes/The Pocono's

I just returned from seeing In Her Shoes. Filmed right here in Philadelphia, I had been waiting anxiously for it come out since I read the book by Philadelphia based writer Jennifer Weiner. My friend Shirl saw it over the weekend and raved about the film. Believe me that is high praise coming from Shirl. I have to admit it was really good. My adopted city shines as the backdrop of the film. Shirley Maclaine, Cameron Diaz and Toni Colette were all very good. Not to mention Candace Azzara, who had many roles in the 70's and 80's but hasn't done much in movies or T.V. she was really good as the evil stepmother! I wonder how many will know who she is. It's kind of a trivia factoid. My favorite line of the afternoon, however came not from this movie but from a preview for a Jennifer Aniston movie ,which again has Shirley Maclaine playing a grandmother. Shirley says to an upset Jennifer after she answers the door " come in and I'll start a pot of Bourbon.
Maybe it was the gray day we had today or just my mood, but it made me laugh out loud.

Next the Pocono's! It appears that things are moving forward. Plans have been completed and sent to the bank. We now have an idea of what the house will look like. In whirlwind hour we had to pick out all of the cabinets, fixtures, doors etc. It was very tiring. Ned and I got through it though with only minor back and forth snippiness. After we were able to swing by our friend Michael's place who has a home nearby and have a nice dinner and unwind with Michael and his family. We are now waiting for permits and finalization of the financial stuff and then perhaps work can begin.

A special hello to my friend Mrs; K She just had a 2nd daughter and is doing very well and visited the blog. I can't wait to see her, Mr. K and the girls.

Dragon Boat. My team raised almost three thousand dollars for the Jefferson Breast Cancer center and have already begun plans on next years race. I, in my Thomas Jefferson get up, made it onto the Dragon boat festival website. My dreams of stardom are coming true. Not since Lisa Thomas Laurie interviewed me for Action news in 1996 at the inaugeration for Bill Clinton have I felt like such a celebrity.

Finally it was suggested yesterday by some friends that I need to punch up the blog. I'm not sure how to do that but will try with each post to be more exciting. Well as exciting as I can be. Perhaps I can also start sharing some of my entertainment trivia whirling around in my head. Anyway take care.

A shot of the team at the end of the first race 

The Dragon boat race came and went yesterday. It was a beautiful day with 125 teams participating from all over. My team Jeff Crew did very well for our first time out.None of us had any real rowing or racing background and after only three practices we placed 4th after our first race, 2nd after our second race and 5th after our third and final race. As the drummer my job was to keep the time for the rowers and to be entertaining on the boat so what better way to represent a team from Thomas Jefferson University hospital then to be Thomas Jefferson. I can almost hear the laughter from everyone who knows how tone deaf I am. It really was a great day. Thanks to Margie for organizing everything and to Toni for making sure we all had so much to eat and drink and to all of my teammates and supporters. Special thanks to Ned who stayed the whole day even though he had very little sleep the night before and took so many wonderful pictures.