31
Dec
2013

12 Days of Christmas

I’m happy to see Apple embracing the 12 days of Christmas with their 12 Days of Gifts app. The gifts have been of varying quality but they seem to want to find something for every taste which is cool.Personally, I have always been a fan of the 12 Days of Christmas. No, I don’t mean the song (no offense to partridges or turtle doves). I mean the 12 days following Christmas Day. December is always a crazy month. You’re running around preparing for the holidays, decorating, gift shopping, trying to get caught up at work before leaving for the holiday, baking cookies and on and on. It feels like the buildup to the holiday is more and more stressful with each day and then when Christmas Eve arrives things finally wind down and you can relax. To me, this is when the holidays truly begin. I’m lucky enough to be able to take off between Christmas and New Year’s Day so this is when I go to “Christmassy stuff” and visit with friends and family.

Most years it’s more like the 9 days of Christmas, but this year with the way that the weekends and my days off have fallen (minus some working at home), I’ll be going back to work on the 12th day of Christmas. So, counting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day which really days -1 and 0, I certainly can’t complain!

So, on this 5th day of Christmas, here’s wishing you and yours a very Merry 12 Days of Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Posted by Michael in Life
28
Nov
2013

The Thanksgiving Letter

Happy Thanksgiving to all. If you’ve never read The Thanksgiving Letter by Marney, you’re missing out! It’s worth rereading each and every year.

Enjoy the holiday and be thankful you’re not related to Marney.

Posted by Michael in Interesting Links
28
Nov
2013

The Thanksgiving Letter

Happy Thanksgiving to all. If you’ve never read The Thanksgiving Letter by Marney, you’re missing out! It’s worth rereading each and every year.

Enjoy the holiday and be thankful you’re not related to Marney.

Posted by Michael in Interesting Links
11
Nov
2013

Veteran’s Day

Veteran’s Day means a day off for some of us. For others it is a day just like any other. It should be, first and foremost, a day to say thank you to those who have served or are still serving in our nation’s armed forces. Their service and sacrifices are what make our nation great.

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure sitting with one my my favorite veterans, my grandfather, and working to document his service. A member of what Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation,” he served in the Navy during World War 2 both on land and sea. The part we focused on was his time at Fort Miles in Delaware. You can read the entire story and view photos here, but the end result of this endeavor was visiting my grandfather’s old duty station with him about 70 years after he detached from the post. Hearing his stories and memories while standing with him at the site brought me a new appreciation of his experiences during the war while he still sees them as just what he had to do at that time.

So, for those currently serving in the military, you never know… 70 years from now a historian might be contacting your grandson to document the invaluable service you are currently providing to our nation. Thank you.

Posted by Michael in Interesting Links, Life
19
Oct
2013

An Impressive Achievement

Back in April, I mentioned my cousin Kris was embarking on a hike of the entire Appalachian Trail. This week she finished her journey. Throughout the entire adventure she documented it with daily posts on her website. You can still relive her journey on her website, wayfarer.me. It makes for a fun and interesting read. Perhaps one day she’ll turn it into a book.

Congrats Kris!

Posted by Michael in Genealogy, Interesting Links
14
Oct
2013

What I did on my summer vacation… in photos

I just posted four new albums of photos. They are all a result of my summer trip to North Carolina.  Our trip was slightly disjointed with stops independent and unrelated stops in more than a half dozen cities spanning three states. As a result, the photos are broken out into separate albums.

Our vacation was primarily based around visiting cousins on both of sides of my dad’s family (the Torettas and the Gattis) who live in North Carolina. Photos from the Raleigh-Durham and Pinehurst areas are right here.

After leaving North Carolina, we stopped in Charlottesville, Virginia and visited Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello and James Madison’s Montpelier. Photos from that part of our trip can be found in their own album here.

Continuing north, we stopped in Maryland to visit The Maryland State Barbecue Championship and Festival in Bel Air and the Havre de Grace Seafood festival. Between sampling the amazing food at each festival I took photos that you can view here.

Our final stop was in Rising Sun, Maryland to visit the Plumpton Park Zoo. Besides visiting this cool little country zoo, we also stopped and visited the dairy that makes the amazing ice cream that we found at the seafood festival. The Rising Sun photo are here.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
28
Sep
2013

Conowingo Dam Tour Photos

Conowingo DamMy family and I have been driving over the Conowingo Dam coming and going from my uncle’s house for many years. I never knew too much about it. While at the Havre de Grace seafood festival we signed a petition in support of the relicensing of the dam. As a result we were notified about an open house and tour being held down there. It was a fun day and the tour was extremely interesting. I’d never been inside a hydro electric plant before and really knew very little about the history or workings of the Conowingo plant.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
21
Jul
2013

Review: Station House – Haddon Heights NJ

The Station House, named for it’s location on Station Avenue near the railroad tracks, serves breakfast and lunch. In the past, the decor seemed a little dark and cluttered, but when I returned recently, I found the new decor much lighter and airier. I would describe it as casual and welcoming. It definitely has a local small town neighborhood feel to it. Drinks are served in Ball jars.

Their breakfast menu consists of all the standards you’d expect… eggs, omelets, pancakes, waffles, etc. Their list of omelets includes a nice variety. They also have specials. I was there on the Fourth of July weekend and they had several patriotically named specials such as the Independence Egg Casserole that was delicious. It was an egg over hash brown potatoes with bacon and cheese.

I’ve never tried their lunch, but the menu includes salads, sandwiches, burgers, wraps… everything you’d expect.

Their convenient location near other small shops and stores (plus the Haddon Heights Farmers Market on Sundays during Spring Summer and Fall) plus the friendly service make this a worthwhile stop.

Independence Egg Casserole

 

Sausage & Gravy with Biscuits & Hash Browns

Posted by Michael in Reviews

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