A Phone Call From Where....

I must tell you about my dream during my nap today.

no joke....

I got a phone call from Marty Touhy....a former partner who passed away about 2 years ago.

In his voice and tone and humor, as if it was nothing changed.

He asked me.

Hey, how many miles you put on the trip....I assumed he meant the trip to fla this winter.

I said about 25,000 and he made his giggle laugh Wow, thats a lot!

How'd you do that?

I then realized Hey Marty is on the phone talking to Me.

Marty...Where the Hell are you....I mean Up or down.

He said its all in your mind..whether you want it to be up or down and

then quickly said good-bye.

I yelled---Hey--call me back will ya....and he said Yep Yep...click.

I immediately woke up...

It was a good dream....I'm still smilin.

Let me say it now----I love the new meds that I'm on....Great dreams and none of them about women....or nightmares.

I can't wait for Marty's next call...I have many questions to ask him

More bday photos...Cake, Guests, Pirates

DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM...

A Pirates Life for Me.....arrrgh....

DOUBLE CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM.

If you take a lot of love and hard work and a mind to make something special for your grandson--Owen's 4 birthday, you will end up with a special cake.

And it taste' great too.....

Karolyn was nervous for weeks. How to make this cake better than the pirate cake for Nate.

First it had to be Awesome.

2nd it had to feed up to 50 people.

Shopping took days. Karolyn hit all the party stores and dollar stores looking for pirate stuff.

Pirate Gummies were a good find as well as Shark Gummies.

Then gold colored chewing gum. Yum, Yum.


Finally, she went to the local Sarah Lee bakery outlet store, a half block from our home. Sorry but with all the graduations most of our tray cakes are gone.

Why don't you call some of the others. The Palatine store manager said he had three and would save them for us.

An hour drive there and back and we had the 3 layers of cake.

She made a cardboard template of the shape and that's how it got its design.

Layer upon layer and she used the trimmings to make the fore and aft decks...what ever those are.

Next the frosting. She makes it herself and used her fudge recipe, applying it thick and heavy.

We waited to decorate it until we got to the birthday party house in YEP..Palatine.

The boys eye's got big when they saw it being carried it. Shortness of breath from carrying it too. Heavy...

Karolyn put it on a new poster board...you know like a 1/4 inch thick.

The cakes were placed on it. I did mention she made a second cake. She decorated that one like a pirates island.


She smooied a blue/green frosting around the boat and island. The gummy fish were stuck into these. Sharks, Octopus' Squid and Dolphins.

The sails were made of Pirate wrapping paper twisted and clued together..


While doing this, the boys ran and put on their new pirate costumes.

They were now into the spirit.


The photos just don't do the cakes justice.

As all the guests arrived and they saw the cake, their eyes all popped out and each one asked if she would agree to make/sell one to them.

After 3 weeks of shattered nerves, the answer was just an eye-ball stare.

A few hours later everyone gathered around the table and the kids sat there for 20 minutes staring at the cake and waiting for the candles to be lit.

It was a great cake and every child asked their parents if they could have AN AWESOME PIRATE cake for their birthdays.

Don't let the door hit you....and Pizza

My nephew Cristopher married a nice Irish girl in Ireland. Many in the family traveled to the emerald Isle to celebrate with him.

My sister Liz and husband Pat live on Maui. He owns an organic farm and she is a school teacher.



On their return trip from Ireland, they had a lay-over in Chicago and were able to visit family.

They were supposed to land about 2pm but didn't arrive until near 6pm. We were hungry and decided to get some pizza's at Dino's on Higgins.


While driving back home with the pizza we got the call, we're at the hotel and want some pizza.
So I made a timely detour and picked them up.

They were going to wait until all ate the pizza together but I insisted they eat it while it was hot. They agreed that Chicago has the best pizza.






After their visit, I drove them to visit our other sister Mary. When we arrived we learned that Mary, who works for the post office, just got a phone call that they were closing her post office. This meant she would have to drive a great distance to a new location or retire.

She just didn't feel up to a visit and asked us to leave.



So, I took them to their hotel for a much needed rest. Poor Liz's eye's were bloodshot and Pat was tired also. We said good-bye and hoped to see each other soon. Probably not Pat who has to tend to his farm.

More photos...Tball and the Dogs.

DON'T FORGET TO DOUBLE CLICK THE PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT....

Nate has improved every game. Last Saturday he stopped 13 ground balls.
So, he got the game ball....first time for an Elliott

The little dog Max always beat up on all the big dogs, but Duey is definitely his match and more.

Just Walking....

DON'T FORGET TO DOUBLE CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM.

Getting Slower or its Getting More Difficult.

DON'T FORGET TO DOUBLE CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM


This past weekend I got a nice warm feeling...like I wanted to try some work around the house.

So, I bought some lumber 2 x 3 and had the boys volunteer to fix a broken picnic table.

They started out with lots of enthusiasum but found the job needed special cuts on the legs.

Once they finished it looked good....just leaning a little to one side.

I started off by replacing a screen on the storm door. Our new dog kept jumping up on the door and put his paws thru an missing jelosy window pane....punching out the screening.

After I fixed the screen I took a couple upper door panes and put them down low....we hope to replace the door soon.

Then a old time basement wooden window pane was broken and I fixed that.

Actually, it took 3 hrs. Why? because the window cutting man at ACE decided to cut according to my request....it was off by an inch.

I tried measuring the old way from the 1" line to get a better more accurate measurement.

Of course I forgot to subtract the extra inch.

Can't wait until next weekend.

Drillin and Chillin

Got up early and drove to McDonalds at 7:30am. Met the usual guys: Pat, Phil, Lee and Kitty. Soon, we were surprised by Sparks Mike and Chuckie.

We were all talking and noticed that Chuckie wasn't talking.

Hey Chuckie whats up....

I'm mad, I had my drivers window open and another car hit a pothole filled with water. Soaked me and my car,,,do you believe that sh....

Sparks was smiling but he always does. Hey Sparks why are you here so early.

My golf game got rained out.

We all laughed and continued laughing until it was time to leave and go to ??? Panera.

Met Karolyn at Panera and after sitting with her and the Murphys, I went for coffee and saw some friends by the front window.

I sat down and somehow started talking about religion. Usually, the men discuss religion and we have a good time and forget about it.

But that didn't happen with this group. I had to strategically excuse myself with I have a dentist appointment. Which I did.
I got there at 10am and Dr. Nikki took me into the room and with the help of Magdalena?? started to drill my teeth off. Ok, not my teeth but the old bonding filling material on my front teeth.

They worked on me for at least 20-30 minutes and when they were finished I had fancy looking pearlies on my upper front teeth.

I said thanks and then walked back to Panera (which is close to the dentist office) and met the boys sitting out from. Pedals Pat and baby Jeff, the lovely MaryAnn, Lawyer Jim and Job dodger Roger.

We laughed for an hour and I got hungry. I went into Panera and just couldn't see spending $8 for a quick lunch.

Into the car and over to McDs for a sandwich and coffee.

A quick drive past Panera and I saw Jim and Roger still there.

I joined them and suddenly this attractive women sits at the table next to us and says Hi. You don't recognize me do you.



It was Dr. Nikki. She was pleasant and friendly and we all talked.

Finally, it was time to go and I got home in time for my 3 O'clock nap.

My Jaws hurt and I had good reasons. The dentist and flapping them.

I know another good day is planned as another visit with Dr. Nikki is planned.