Christmas Day 2008

Suzanne, Donna's cousin, is enjoying a relaxing
moment Christmas Day at my house. See the little bag just
off to the left? Can you believe she brought
Donna some Elf Poop?!?!

Donna and Donna!
No, it is not a law firm, but my daughter
and my sister.

Bill is savoring some of his "private stock", also known
as Taylor Pink Catawba. After playing so many Christmas
services the man deserves a good glass of wine.

My gift of a Yankees fleece jacket is apparently a hit
with Donna. The White Sox hat is just a joke. She is
a true Yankees fan all the way.

New Wildlife Room at Bill's

Bill has been working diligently for several months painting,
putting up borders and making this Wildlife Room at his
house a very comfortable place for me to sleep when I
need some rest and quiet from two jobs.

Here you see Poncho Squirrel with two duck friends
sitting on the bed. Behind is a sample of the wildlife
border. The scenes remind me of Yellowstone National Park.

Bill joins his group of friends for a photo op!

So clever! Bill was able to take two corner shelves to
create a shelf next to the bed to hold the electric
blanket control, my glasses and watch.

The top border seen here is a combination of pine cones
and boughs. You can see one of many hand made
afghans Bill has displayed on an oak rack. Bill
is still waiting for the head board for the bed to
be delivered. It will be absolutely perfect!!

New Christmas Tree

After waiting nearly a year since I purchased the Christmas
tree at Target on clearance, I finally got it up a few days ago.
It only took me all day and all evening until the wee hours
of the next morning!

Yes, there are 1,000 lights on this seven foot tree!
I tried several ways to get a good shot of all
the lights without using the flash, but I ended
up having to use it.

Kalacs Day 2008

Today was my daughter's and my day to bake our
Hungarian pastry called kalacs. My father had translated
the recipe given to him by my Nana into English from
Hungarian. Several years ago Donna said we needed to
continue the tradition, even if we had never made kalacs before.
We have had a great deal of fun doing this once a year.

My father made several kinds of kalacs. Here are some
of the ingredients Donna and I used today. We just love to
experiment with different fillings and mixtures.

Donna is holding the Kalacs bible. We have preserved all
of the recipes with comments by her grandfather into this
book. Donna has continued the tradition of writing down what
works and what is "No Good!"

Donna is showing off her newly knitted mittens made by her
Aunt Valerie. She does have to take them off and get to work
mixing up the dough! Now that is hard work.

Here I am mixing up the walnut filling, getting ready to
spread it on the dough over my left shoulder.

Donna loves to be silly. Gee, I wonder who she
gets that from!


On the phone with Valerie in Rhode Island, letting
her know everything came out just fine.

Here you see Donna finalizing the notes from
today's baking into the Kalacs bible. She even
brought her own color coded pens for precise
note making. Ah, such a teacher!!

Back to being silly!

When all was said and done, we had made four batches. We
had 20 kalacs in five different flavors. That was the most
we have ever done as a "team". And to think
my father used to do this whole process alone
is absolutely remarkable.

Jean, Suzanne and Donna Hardin, and Donna
holding some of what was baked today.

All Saints Flowers

I thought this would be a great vehicle for you
to see what was on the altar on All Saints Day
in memory of Mom and Dad. These beautiful flowers
were given by my sister, Valerie Shindell. They looked
beautiful under the cross.

Praying Mantis on Patio Chair

Even though our magnificent trip is over, I could not
resist posting these shots of a Praying Mantis I took this
evening on my patio chair on the deck.
Besides, it gave me a chance to
experiment with a closeup setting on the camera.

I found it uncanny how the Praying Mantis followed me
as I moved around the patio table with its eyes. Click on the
photo for a full view. Quite beautiful, in my opinion.

9,000 Miles and Still Talking!

Today was our final day of our magnificent adventure.
We began at this music store in Pittsburgh
where you can find anything
you need for a church music program.
It is such a joy to visit here annually.

Since I did not take a long time at Volkwein's, Bill afforded me
the pleasure of going to the Mount Washington Overlook
to view Pittsburgh. Here you see the Monongahela River
to the right, the Allegheny River in the background to the right,
and when these two rivers join at the point in the center of the
picture, they form the Ohio River. That's your
geography lesson for the day.

I really am not a big city person, but I do like Pittsburgh.
I think this is a beautiful representation of the
skyline of a great city.

Another view of Pittsburgh from Mount Washington Overlook.

A long shot of the Monongahela River and Pittsburgh.

I am happy to be here on a bright and sunny day.

Heinz Field.

A Pennsylvania Farm House off the Turnpike.

Pennsylvania Landscape.
Yes, those are wind turbines in the distance.

I really had wanted to have a picture taken of me
hiding out in a cornfield, but it was not possible.
So, I decided to have Bill take a picture of me with a Scrub Pine.
This is truly a sign that we are back in New Jersey!

A beautiful sunset at the Jersey Shore.

Another view of the sunset.

We completed our journey at a very unique establishment here in
Toms River - Joshua Huddy's. Even after traveling 9,000 miles and
being together 39 days we are still talking to one another.
I thank God for this wonderful country and the people we have
met. I thank Bill for making this adventure possible.
My advice to you is take the opportunity to travel this great
United States. It is simply awesome!!! Amen!!!

Almost Home

Twenty five years ago the coal was excavated from this
land using the strip mine method. After the coal was taken,
the coal company was required to back fill the stripped land
and return it to pasture. This is in eastern Ohio.

Here I am at one of most delicious stores I have ever come
across. We had visited one like this two years ago in Abilene,
Kansas. Today we found this one near Cabela's in
Wheeling, West Virginia.

We had been here at Cabela's two years ago and knew they
were going to build something. We were amazed at how many
stores have moved in.

Yes, they even built a Target.

There is still a great deal of construction going on in Wheeling.
A number of hotels have sprouted up making this a destination
for some serious shopping.

Made It to Indianapolis, IN

This bed was a very welcome sight to two weary
travelers who had spent eight hours making their way from
Waukegan, IL (a suburb of Chicago) to Indianapolis, Indiana.

Overnight we had 5-7 inches of rain that flooded interstates
and local roads. Route 94 was closed and we spent over an hour
retracing our steps to finally make it to some sunshine
and temperatures in the upper 80's for the first time in weeks.
We welcomed Indianapolis with open arms, knowing we would
have a nice place to lay our little heads at the end of the day.

Elsie Stuhler, my former choir librarian and "adopted Mom",
is not fond of having her picture taken. I was able to steal this
great photo of her holding her great grandson, Will Comerford.
Elsie sends warm greetings to all at Holy Cross.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is me holding Will.
He looks just like his Dad, Billy Comerford, at his age.
Will does have his Mom's nose. A sweet little man.

Doesn't Bill look comfortable holding the baby?
By the way, we were at Linda and Tim's house for dinner.
Elsie's daughter and son-in-law were gracious enough to open
their house to a number of young people who were there to
see the motorcycle races at the Speedway this weekend.
Add the two of us to the mix, and we had a "full house" for dinner.

Billy Comerford, Elsie's grandson, and his daughter, Grace.
At five years, Grace is quite adorable and a joy to be around.

Grace with her Mom, Pam Comerford.