10 posts tagged “family”
Many thanks to a fellow Facebook friend for this. Classic. I'd pass it around to at least 15 guys you know.
No doubt about it: my sister's no slouch when it comes to a meal. A few months ago, following a visit to a vineyard in Connecticut, I'd mailed her a choice bottle and then suggested she get some "nutty" cheeses to complement it. I'd be in town later that summer and thought it might provide some good relaxation opportunities.
I suggested kaskeval and manchego. And, my sister duly went out and got the same.
Then she got more.
And more.
And more.
The end result? A spread fit for a king...or a queen, depending on your gender. We ended up with two bottles of wine, one red to complement the white I'd previously shipped over. I had to email my sister to get all the names, since I'd forgotten them. She said:
The cheeses we served were: smoked Swiss and mozzarella, Kashkaval, Manchego, Port Salut and Stilton. The spreads were cheddar/bleu and pimiento. Raw veges were cauliflower, asparagus, gherkins and red pepper – served with bleu cheese and French onion dips. Crackers were sesame cheddar, cream, mini toasts and olive oil tortas. Champagne grapes, Hungarian salami, summer sausage and two bottles of wine rounded it out. Great leftovers
Ngah Ngah! And, it was good. So good, I took some pictures of the table she set. It was as beautiful as it was delicious:
Ooops. Just pretend this was with the prior post. Clicked the Save button too soon. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving:
Brother-in-law Eric (foreground) and husband Aram. Eric is the father of Benjamin and Samuel, pictured a bit later.
Aram and Eric's dad, Bill, in the foreground. Whole lotta' empty plates, aren't there? Aram's looking pensive in the background.
I had my very first Skype web chat with my parents this morning, and it was great. I've had Skype for years and have a friend friends I web chat with on a semi-regular basis. This was the first time I've done it with the folks and I can guarantee it won't be the last!
What's a Skype web chat? If you have a web cam and instant messaging/voip software like Skype, you can see the person you're talking to on video, live as it's happening. You can do this on a bunch of different IM services, including Yahoo and MSN. I like Skype, though. It's kinda the grand-daddy of them all.
It was wonderful to see my folks - along with my brother and sister-in-law - on video. They live about 500 miles away and our visits are limited to a few days here and there at specific times of the year, particularly Christmas. We have another way of communicating and I'm very happy about it.
Hi, mom!!!!!
Okay, I've been moaning and bitching. Time for a break. Just finished up a rather depressing session regarding the $$$$$$$$$ health insurance coverage we're going to need to buy...on our own. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario.
On the more cheerful side, my mother-in-law shared some pictures of my newest nephew, Samuel. I'm not partial to the "cute baby" thing, except for this guy. He smiles and laughs a lot. That's got to count for something.
Just us: dad, me, sister Bette and brother Tom!
I spent this Labor Day weekend with my family. I'm originally from Western New York and was born in Buffalo, NY. I've lived in Boston for a long, long, time but the rest of the family is still in that area. My parents and sister/brother-in-law live in the comfortable suburb of Kenmore, NY and my brother/sister-in-law live in Southern Ontario. Buffalo is right on the Canadian border and it's a relatively short hop, skip and jump to places like Niagara Falls or Fort Erie, Ontario.
I've been running around a lot lately and appreciated the chance to just stop and relax for a little while. We're a pretty close-knit family so visits are pretty important occasions.
I talked, visited people, relaxed and ate. My parents are having their house re-decorated so I got a chance to see that project in-progress. Very nice! I'll see the finished product this Christmas, when my husband Aram and I go back again.
My sister, Bette, and brother-in-law, John, live about a block and a half away. My sister is an investment broker and John owns a high-end furniture refinishing business. They do well. Bette and I both share a passion for gardening and cooking and can spend hours gossiping about this, that and the other thing.
And what was the most interesting and fun thing we did the day I got in? Ready for this? We played a round of miniature golf! We did that all the time when we were kids and I suddenly got hit by a nostalgic desire for a round of 18 holes past windmills, around corners and under bridges. No kidding - we had an absolute blast!
My brother and sister-in-law live in Southern Ontario, in a town called Niagara-on-the-Lake. The lake in question is Lake Ontario and their house overlooks it directly. The town center, some miles away, is a charming tourist trap and one I love to visit whenever I can. The house is in a more rural area, bordered by orchards.
Southern Ontario is home to a large fruit and vegetable growing region. It also has wonderful wineries, which we also visited. There's no way to describe this place, you just have to see it:
The glory of this area is on the other side of these houses, though: Lake Ontario. On clear days you can see straight through to Toronto. This is what you see when you look out of Tom and Penny's picture windows:
As I mentioned, this area also has some very nice wineries. We stopped in at one and enjoyed a tasting:
Before I leave this scenic post, I thought I'd mention that Tom and Penny got married in this same back yard. They have a gorgeous tree under which this ceremony took place. It's starting to die away, just a bit, and will have to be cut down in a few years' time. But, for now, it's still pretty darn nice:
I just found out that my maternal uncle is also collecting family information, although on a different genealogy site. He has the goods on the Zagrodnik clan and I'm sure also has photos and other visual data to go with it. My folks are going to send over a Rydzynski family tree my aunt started to assemble many, many years ago. My dad is updating it, and then they'll mail it over to me.
My goodness, this is quite the hunt! And, Rosie's going nuts. She's got my family pegged back several generations by now, just by using the tools on the site to search for public records. I really do want to get into the Polish records, too. Perhaps my material relatives can help me with that, since they've always been into family history.
Well, my friend Rosie finally convinced me to start a Rydzynski family tree. She's a genealogy buff and has a subscription to a site that offers comprehensive family research and tracking services. Her membership allows her to add a number of other family trees, so she's got a few others and now mine.
I'm really amazed by what's available. My family originated in Poland on both my paternal as well as maternal sides (no big surprise there, given the last name), and now I have names, dates, ship manifests, military service records and lots more. I can add blog-style memory entries and upload photos. I can record family histories and videos as well.
Since starting on this project I've learned a lot about my maternal grandfather and the two brothers who came to America. One, George (Wojciech in polish), stayed and the other, Paul (Pawel in Polish), eventually went back to Poland. I still have a lot of family in Poland on my mother's side and I'm hoping I might be able to track down some of them as well. The woman on the left is my maternal grandmother, Kazmiera Zagrodnik, who came here in 1924 when she was pregnant with my mother.
The Rydzynskis emigrated in the late 1800s, most likely from Poznan. At that time, it was part of Germany. My dad says they originally came here on work contracts and just ended up staying. My dad's dad and his dad's dad were both named John. We're tracking down more information about them. My dad had 16 brothers and sisters, a few of whom died in infancy. The infants who didn't make it were also named John.
My dad's the second youngest in the family and he's already 86 so it's a good time to start collecting records. My family is getting interested in this, too. My brother's the computer whiz in the immediate vicinity to my parents, so we have to wait for him to stop by before they can access anything like this service on the internet.
But, hey, this is cool! Thanks, Rosie! You're a gem.
