The Cutest Multi-ethnic Leprechauns

My three beautiful grandchildren are wearin' the green today in celebration of their Irish heritage. Well, you might be thinking, "Zimny isn't an Irish name!" and you would be partly correct. Zimny is a Polish last name. My beautiful grandchildren have three different ethnicities coursing their veins and DNA - they are 1/2 Polish, 1/4 Irish, and of course their best 1/4 is Italian (I am a bit biased, being a "pedigree" Italian). I thought it would be nice to share some pictures of the wee little Polrishtalians wearing their Irish finery. Enjoy!

Spring Tease

The last few days have been incredible! Temps in the 60s and sustained sunshine for the most part. The "spring ahead" turning of the clock forward has now afforded us longer amounts of daylight. I have seen the return of robins and red-winged blackbirds and love hearing their little birdie tweets and twitters outside. I have tulips pushing their way up from the newly thawed ground. Great? Well, yes, except for one thing - having lived in this area my whole life I know this is the annual SPRING TEASE. It just won't last. My mother always told me that March was a crazy month (and she would always add - "Just like the people who are born in it!" - which coincidentally or not, my sister is!) I heard on a weather report the other day that three of our heaviest recorded snowstorms have been in March. So, although I put my heavy sweaters into my "seasonal" closet, I have a little fear that I might need them again. I know I shouldn't have done that, but I was sweating just looking at them hanging in my closet - I just HAD to get them out of there so Spring could begin in earnest.

Oh, what was I thinking?

Friendship At Any Age

In the most unlikely of places, a friend's memorial service, I had an epiphany of sorts. As I looked around at the gathering of friends and former colleagues it occurred to me how blessed I am, once again. I realized that in part due to my chosen profession (teaching) I have friendships with people of all ages. Friendship is a beautiful and cherished part of my life and I think it's just plain cool to have friends in their 20s as well as in their 70s. In education we preach "lifelong learning" all the time. I think having friends, and nurturing those friendships is part of that lifelong learning experience. I learn from my friends all the time. I take from them so much - their thoughts, their opinions, their valuable life experiences.

As a recent retiree, I am the "baby" of our retirees group. I love being part of a group of women who dedicated their lives to helping kids learn. Now I continue to learn during the time I spend with them. We have all grieved recent losses together lately, as well as worrying about and praying for another friend who has been seriously injured in a horrific car accident. Together we learn from one another's life experiences and it bonds us even more. Sure, we might not be "best buddies" but we are friends, and I know that they will be there for me when I need them most.

My young friends keep me in touch with the younger person I used to be. I love living vicariously through them as they experience life's treasured moments - new boyfriend/girlfriend, getting engaged, a wedding, pregnancy, and even loss. I only hope that they can turn to me when they need the "voice of experience" on their side. And I hope that one day they will have the same epihipany that I did because it is a beautiful thing to realize - friendship transcends age.

Precarious Life

I have been in a bit of a funk lately. Four recent events have sent my mind (and heart) into this mindset. First, the death of a dear friend's husband after a long battle with cancer. Second, the loss of another dear friend's husband after several setbacks following heart surgery. Finally, the horrific car accident that has another friend fighting for her life. We all know how life can turn on a dime leaving us breathless at times. The events of the last few weeks have truly taken my breath from me. I have spent so much time worrying for, and feeling sad for these wonderful people who have been dealt so much sorrow and pain.

In the last week I have also learned about another friend's father's struggle with multiple myeloma, cancer of the blood. My friend's brother has taken to writing his thoughts and feelings on a blog. His writing is so powerful and insightful. I know how much writing helps me organize and express my thoughts, but reading this blog literally has me pausing to breathe. It has brought back so many memories of my own father's valiant struggle with cancer, and how helpless my family and I were as he battled to no avail. Mike has put into words everything that cancer is - evil, non-discriminatory, debilitating to all involved (the patient and his/her loved ones), and how the very word "cancer" is the most dreaded word in our language. His writing is his coping mechanism, but it can be everyone's who reads it as well. There is probably not one person alive who has not had to suffer along with someone, or know someone whose life has been touched by this awful disease. Cancer brings out so much anger in me and I wish I could funnel that anger magically into a cure. I wish the world's scientists and doctors would get real angry real soon.

Brennan's First Birthday 2/28/2010

Today my youngest grandson, Brennan James Zimny, turned one year old. I was once again present in the hospital room when Brennan was born. It took a long time for him to decide to leave the comfort of Lindsay's womb. Ironically, Brennan came into the world almost six weeks early and spent way too long in the NICU (neo-natal ICU) at Central DuPage Hospital. He had some difficulty feeding due to his being premature. It killed us to see the feeding tube in his little nose and watch the nurses "inject" his formula into the tube several times a day. He finally figured it out and they let him come home, much to our delight!

Prematurity is a funny thing. You come out early, but then you are delayed by your earliness. Brennan has had to endure wearing a helmet for his torticollis - a weakening of his neck muscles, causing him to favor one side which affected the shape of his head, hence the helmet. More irony - the helmet, which is supposed to help his head and face develop, has actually delayed his development - he is yet to crawl, or want to stand. He loves his bouncer seat and goes crazy in it.

More irony - Brennan was to be the star at his first birthday party today, but instead came down with the stomach flu, as his big brother did nearly six years ago on HIS first birthday. So, the party has been postponed a week. How is this ironic? If a baby wearing one of these helmets gets a fever, the helmet is to be removed for several days. During the helmet-less days Brennan CRAWLED for the first time! He has been rolling to get from point A to point B, because of the weight of that helmet, but
helmet-less he became mobile!

Brennan will get to have his "smash cake" for his first birthday, and his mommy and daddy will take photos of him doing it, but they will be doing it without anyone else present. The stomach flu has made their house a proverbial "virus pool" and no one wants to go near it! Annie got the flu, and John and Lindsay had some stomach unrest as well. The frivolity of a first birthday will have to wait for next weekend. I can't wait to celebrate this very special day in Brennie Boo's life. He is such a trooper!

When Life Gives You Lemons...Go to Galena!

Life can be so interesting. One minute you are up and the next you are down, down, down. For example, a few weeks back Artie told me we were going to Scottsdale, Arizona on a combined business/pleasure mini trip. He was to attend a conference and we were going to go early so we could do a rail trip to the Grand Canyon and visit Sedona. The other fun part of this trip was getting to visit with my niece, Gina, and her family who recently were relocated to Arizona. What made this more fun was that my mom has been visiting with Gina for several weeks and we were going to get to see her too. Well...that was not to be! The conference was canceled due to lack of attendees! This broke my heart. I brooded and pouted for two days. Then, I decided to get out of the "pity pool" and plan an impromptu weekend getaway!

I am an animal and nature lover, mainly because I love what I see through my camera lens. Not long ago I received an email from a friend that highlighted bald eagles nesting in Vancouver, and how some men actually feed the eagles every year about this time to encourage their nesting there. The eagles come back to nest in the same area each February. The photos on this email were amazing! Since I knew we couldn't get away to Vancouver a light bulb went off in my mind and I remembered viewing bald eagles in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. That got the wheels moving. I went online and searched for info about the majestic birds in Prairie du Chien. One thing led to another and I decided we would go to Galena, stay at our favorite place - The Inn at Irish Hollow - and use this as our base for going to Prairie du Chien. While wandering around the town of Galena we decided to check the Visitors' Information Center. The lady who greeted us told us we didn't have to drive all the way to Wisconsin to view the eagles, that Galena had many and they were not far away. She told us exactly where to go to see them - an old abandoned Army station (apparently where bombs and other explosives were made and tested). We took a drive to the site and since it was mid-afternoon had few expectations of seeing the eagles. We did see one mature one as it flew away because we scared it, and one "immature" one, whose photo is attached. I knew this particular bird was a young eagle since it did not yet have its white head. This bird was gracious enough to hang around to let me get some great shots of it. My heart was pounding in my chest I was so excited to be so close to this amazing bird.

This sighting inspired us to make an early morning trip back to the site the next day. Jackpot! We arrived shortly after 10 a.m. when the birds typically are feeding or working on their nests. We were able to see 10 eagles, and the highlight was to see a nesting pair perched together in one tree. Unfortunately they flew away before I could get a photo of them, but just seeing them so close to me was an experience I will remember for a long time to come.

Although it wasn't quite the warmth and ethereal beauty of Arizona, we saw beauty in another form. Winter in Galena is spectacular. The natural beauty of the rolling hills of northwestern Illinois takes on a different type of beauty when snow blankets it. Life gave us lemons, but we did make lemonade. Thank you, Galena, for taking us away and making us so happy. Thank you bald eagles for proving that you are worthy of being our national bird - so graceful, so majestic, and so beautiful.

I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet

I am sure everyone knows we had an earthquake early this morning, 4 a.m. to be exact. This is usually the time my internal clock wakes me up day after day. This morning the quake roused my husband and I at the same time. We both sat up in our bed and just listened. I know that Artie was trying to get his sleepy wits about him while I was sure someone's house had blown up from a gas leak. Then there was a knock at our bedroom door. For a moment I went into a panic because in my sleepy stupor I had forgotten that our son lives with us again. I knew it wasn't robbers, because how many robbers knock? Danny was convinced it was an earthquake, while his father laid back down telling us it was a plow! I jumped up and Danny and I checked out the house and then looked out the front windows to see if any of our neighbors' homes had blown up. Since the noise stopped I felt relatively safe and went back to bed. I was tired enough not to worry about what I didn't know.

I got up around 6:00 and turned on the news. When the newscaster said we had experienced an earthquake and that its epicenter was literally down the road from our house I got scared! Who would have thought we'd have an earthquake after all? Suddenly memories of another quake came flashing back to me. It was my senior year at NIU when my bedroom started shaking, objects on dressers danced and fell off. My room mate and I both jumped into each other's arms and started screaming. Now, being the educated young people we were, what did WE think it was? GHOSTS! We were convinced our apartment was being haunted by some mean spirit or poltergeist (even if we didn't really know what one of those was). Our other two room mates came into our room and the four of us stayed up the rest of the night, unaware that it was an earthquake. Since DeKalb is not that far from today's quake's epicenter, it only made sense that the memory of that night came back to me. I wondered if my room mates thought about it too...