A Star in the east.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

It is the day that we celebrate the birth of our lord. And we have had a good day here in the panhandle of Florida. Darilyn had to work. I did not so I did the best that I could at putting together Christmas dinner. We exchanged gifts with the Florida family and each other and enjoyed it all immensely.

On another note, I find that I do not have many memories of the Christmas celebrations of my youth. I know that they occurred but there was not any that were memorable to me. So, I am enjoying them now. I have attempted to become the Clark Griswald of the neighborhood. My wife informs me that I have a ways to go to attain that status, but so what. It is enjoyable and fun.

May all who read this blog have a wondrous holiday.

P'Eister

Sunday before Christmas 2007

I thank you all for the comments posted. It is good to keep in touch and to have a place to enter my thoughts and musings. I have played with the idea of maybe posting philosophical musings and thoughts that come to me at times. Such things as what might be the cause of some form of behavior or my feelings about some happening or forms of conduct. Maybe just a satirical essay, if I am capable of such works. I don't know, but it could be fun.

Some of the thoughts that I have had are my remembrances of the father of us. I have my memorys and you all have yours and maybe someplace in the middle of it all is the actual truth of it. If there is any real truth.

All I know right now is that I have computed the length of time that TE was on this earth and it has come to my attention that I have lived longer than he did. And I am in no way ready to check out any time soon. Life has become very precious to me. I hurt like hell some days from getting older but so what!!!! I enjoy being around people and trying to stir up the pot and make them think and feel about life. The gift that we have all been given by the good lord. The chance to experience the joys and sorrows of our fellow man, our children, and the beauty of the world around us. I love my life. I love my wife. I love my children. I love each and everyone of my siblings and their offspring. I could not say that 10 years ago, but it is so much the truth now. I have a new home in Pensacola that we will be moving into in the near future. We spent today getting new appliances for the kitchen, a new dining room table... made of marble believe it or not.. and other diverse Christmas presents.

I have also spent the day trying to train a new golden retriever puppy who is nothing but love and mischief. But not a thing would I trade for the time and experience. I expect each and everyone of my sibs to come and visit SOON!!!!! Send me an email and I will post the new address to you all.

Tommorrow I have to return to the work a day world of retail, but I think that I will be looking forward to it with anticipation. There are grinches out there, but who cares. I will deal with them as they happen. So it is getting to the time that I must take this older shell for the young spirit that I feel I have found again and get some rest. So each and every one of you take care and the best of holiday wishes to you all.

I'M BACK

I have returned. It has been many months since the last posting. No apologies, just a fact. A lot has been happening since last I entered here. A number of locations have been attempting to entice me to come out of retirement and return to the work-a-day world of contract programming. I succumbed to the temptation in late November and accepted an offer to go to work in Sacramento only to call them the next day and withdraw.

It seems that my dear lady has some conditions that the doctor has deemed need to be investigated. So far we have found that she has serious disintegration of discs in her back. Probably associated with arthritis. She has had an echo cardiogram which was good. She has yet to take a nuclear stress test to discover if there are any other cardio problems. She also has problems with pulmonary functions. I have noticed myself a tendency to quit breathing at times while sleeping and we have taken steps to alleviate that. It has gotten better of late so that eases my concerns. We need to get these things resolved and we will. Until then I will continue to work at Wal-Mart.

We took a short trip in early December to Las Vegas to visit with mother-in-law and brother-in-law. It was a fun trip and well worth the effort. Upon returning, we have gotten back to our normal way of life. It has been in our minds to find another place to live that is closer to Pensacola as it seems all aspects of our lives revolve around people and things there. Then we found a nice 3 bedroom house on the west side of the city that was up as a lease option and fell in love with it. So, we decided to go for it and see if we can make it all come out with our owning the place. There seemed a better than even chance to overcome the odds and have a home of our own again. So, today we signed all of the papers to lease the house for 2 years with the option to buy it. And if all works as it should, we will be there for a good long time. I may have to return to the every day business of computers on occasion to put money back into the savings but it will be worth it to do short term contracts at high rates of pay when they become available.

That is about it from this end. Maybe I will be able to keep it up this time.

Peister ;o)

Labor Day Musings'

I am trying to to better at these postings. But it is a habit that takes some getting used to indulging. I am still working at the usual place and dealing with the bain of retail - people. Such is life.

It has been quite warm here in the panhandle of Florida. Daily temps are in the 90's with the evenings in the mid to high 70's and HUMID. But living near the water has its good points. It gets cooler in the evening due to a wind off the water. Usually. I will try to add some pics of the beach to show what I mean.


I have another item that I would like to share with my sibs. After discussions at the "gathering", I decided to see if I could find a copy of "Heart Trobs". I went to Amazon and was actually able to find an number of copies. As I wished to have a copy in good condition, I ordered a reasonably priced first edition for $25. I have received it and it is fantastic. I have been re-reading all the old favorites and finding others as well that I had forgotten. Little Breeches for example. I will have to bring it to the next gathering.

And dear sibs, I want to present, for your consideration, a recommendation based upon old Celtic law and tradition. As we are a large part of that heritage, other than the Viking, I feel it is quite appropriate that we should choose a clan leader. And as such, I wish to propose the one who has been our leader ever since childhood. Whom do you think I suggest? Of course, it is our dear Santini. Celtic tribal law and tradition allowed for the rights of women to be leaders when it was truly obvious that they were the best choice. So, think about it and maybe we should plan an installation ceremony at the next gathering. As acting shaman, I would be more than willing to devise some appropriate and truly meaningless procedures.

Tommy

Lazy Sunday Eve

Here it is, Sunday evening. I have just finished reading the blogs of my sibs and my lovely niece KS. It is so great to have a way of communicating our feelings and thoughts when we have the time. I know that I will have to MAKE time for this great endeavor.

Since we returned from the clan gathering, we have been getting back into the swing of things here in the great south land. The big bad Dean will probably miss us by quite a lot and I hope it does not do too much damage wherever it goes. But it has brought to mind the things that a floridian has to keep in the back of the mind. Making sure you have a plan, having extra water rations, and keeping an eye on the weather channel. I have a scanner which I have programmed to find the NOAA forecast stations. I will have to spend some time getting it ready for emergency work should the weather go bad.

Still working at Wally World. I am seriously considering finding some other form of endeavor where I can have a more normal life. Wal-mart is not big on considering the lives of their employees as being of major importance. At least that is how I see it.

Nuff for now. Carl, I hope you read this and know that you were missed at least by the eldest member of the clan if not by all. Catch you all later.

Return from gathering of the Clan

We have returned from the gathering of the Clan. We all congregated at the digs of Sabatini60 in Holland, MI during the week of 8/5 to 8/12. We did not arrive until Tuesday, but it was the best of times. I am so sorry that I have been unable to be with my siblings in the past. It has been over 10 years in most cases. I saw Sylvia and Jim in January, but I have not seen Gene since 1997. And I admit that it was a great loss. The time spent this last week remembering past times was priceless for me. And for my darling lady, Darilyn. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN AGAIN. There will be mini gatherings and major gatherings from now on. I am going to attempt to pass the URL for this blog to my sibs so that they can read my musings and I can read theirs. This blog seems to be a great way to pass information and feelings between the different members of the family and I like it very much.

I have decided that I was re-elected the oldest member of the clan at the gathering. ;o)

Hello to Kelsey, Emily, and Adam. You have all grown to be adults and my congratulations to you and your parents for the way you have all turned out. Nancy, if you read this, it has been many years since last seeing you, but you are a good lady and mother. Thank you for being in my family.

I have added the sunset photo from the group I had taken. It is there for all who wish to grab it.

Enough for now.

GPa Tom

New Day

Hey There Computerland

It is morning on this fine day here in Florida. Or as Piers Anthony knows it "XANTH". It is a fairy land in some minds and mine can be that way as well. It rained last night, actually quite a lot. I have to work today at Wally World so I will soon begin the task of daily ablutions etc.

Fathers Day has come and gone and it was really quite a nice one. Most of my children checked in to see if the old geezer was doing ok. I talked to my boy for about an hour on the phone and I must say it was a great feeling. I have been missing him and I hope we have gotten past whatever was in the way. He is becoming quite a dad himself and I am proud of him.

My sibs have been posting pictures of the "pater" and Jimi has forwarded some pictures of mom. You know something, I MISS HER. Darilyn says I look like her. I guess maybe I do and that is OK.

Got to run now. Work and all that.

First Tim

Just had to get into blogging as my sibs are doing it here. Good day to you guys if you should find this. I am doing this on my Mandriva Linux system at home this time. I am such a computer geek. I have four computers networked in my home on 3 operating systems. And I still have not got it all right..... I just have to keep at it until I do. This is my thing I guess.

Just getting some things done before starting my day at wally world. Work as a cashier there now that I have "retired".

nuff for now

Peister.....