Happy Father's Day!

All our love.

Abi Greg and Jorn

Nap Time

I captured these two moments over the past few days which have been so cold (50 degrees but 42 with the wind chill...madness for June) that there hasn't been much to do but to stay in and relax. Here's the evidence...



Jorn loves his cats and they love him. It is just the cutest thing :-)

Families Start Your Engines!

The weather has been beautiful and the fairs have been a plenty so that means the Connors Clan has been busy having fun! We started Memorial Day Weekend with a trip to the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival. You can read all about that on my knitting blog SpiderWomanKnits as well as see more cute pictures of Jorn and the other two people he lives with ;-)

On Sunday, Jorn and I made our way to the Pittsfield Carnival which was A LOT of fun. Jorn loves the games, the rides, the food, the carni atmosphere...he's a pretty cool guy to hang out with if I do say so myself.

Check him out on the truck ride! Doesn't he look like a trucker? He was really serious about steering I think he would have even downshifted on the hills had he had the option.


After the trucks came the cars. This has been Jorns favorite ride at every fair for the past two years. I have to be sure that I have plenty of tickets because he won't get off the ride unless he goes on two different cars at least. He started driving the bus.


Then switched to the car.

Then, Jorn crossed a threshold. He went on his very first ROLLER COASTER ride and he LOVED it! Check out the video but be sure to let the video "load" first before you play it so it isn't choppy. Jorn is in the second car.


Here he is as the Roller Coaster pulled to a stop. Look at his face. No fear there! I see a lot of trips to Six Flags in our future :-)



After the rides we dined on Carnival Food. Corndogs, Fries, Ice Cream etc. and then headed home. But not before trying a few carnival games. Jorn is a natural at these too! I was amazed he won two prizes and not because "every kids wins" he really won 'em fair and square. There were kids twice his age who couldn't "hook a duck" or catch the flying balls. (Sorry no pictures I was having way too much fun watching him)


After a day filled with rides and fun and food my sufficently stuffed son brought his stuffed turtle and stuffed snake home and took a nice long nap.

Testing 1 2 3

Ok everyone here it goes! YouTube is a service that will host video for you so that we can share our movies with you on the blog. So make sure you read the post below about our trip to the Festival of Celts and then check out the video of Jorn defeating the Invisible Knight! How great is this? Oh...be sure to let the video load completely before you play it so it isn't choppy :-)




Next, Jorn becomes SIR Jorn!

Celtic Festival 2006

Last weekend the Connors Clan headed over to Chatham, NY for the 2006 Festival of Celts. I have to admit that I have been pretty interested in Celtic culture ever since I started reading the Outlander Series this winter. (I am on book three now) This was my kind of fair. We had SO much fun. There is something so intriguing about re-enacters/time travel via recreation. I just love it.

We saw knights


Medieval Clansman


The Redcoats (Blah!)


Traditional Pipers (not sure of the clan)


And Jorn successfully fought off the Invisible Knight


But this guy captivated us the entire time



We just couldn't get enough (pictures) of him. It was like he was a time traveler. It was a beautiful day and a great time was had by all. Next year maybe we'll actually try the Haggis!

Jorns First Love and Where Have we Been?

Oh My. Has it really been months since I last posted on this blog? How awful. Well, for all the folks out there...all three of you ;-)... keeping up with our happenings here's what has been going on...

To start we decided to put our house on the market in preparation for a move.

PITTSFIELD. ADORABLE & sunny 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, built ins, wood floors, den, office. Asking $159,900. Reasonable offers invited.

There is a house that we love and have put an offer on but we'll have to wait and see if we can get it because we must sell our house first and there is no way to say how long that will take. Cross your fingers for us.

In other news I decided to close down the old Revoltees web-site and start up a new store with Etsy which is a highly addictive web-site that provides the opportunity for artists and crafters to sell their goods world wide. You can check out my Etsy store here.

The end of winter and begining of spring have kept us quite busy but we still manage to have some fun. Here's proof...

Jorn has taken to drawing numbers and letters with complete ease. It is really amazing!







Sometimes I have a little extra "help" with the laundry.








Caroline (our next door neighbor and Jorn's first love) take a break from playing with a quick rest. Jorn actually asked me if he could marry her! Too Cute!







We had a visit from Grandma Julie and she, Jorn, and I took some time out to knit together. We had a really great visit. It was short but sweet. Grandma Julie also got the first family tour of our potential new home!





In the begining of April I took a Jetplane to see my dear friend Bruce in Ohio. I had a great time. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the trip but this is what I came home to. It was a joint effort between Greg and Jorn. Greg did the top part and Jorn did the bottom ALL BY HIMSELF. Greg just spelled the words for him as he wrote them. Jorn did everything else!






There was no way we were going to miss the Sheep and Wool Festival at the Clermont Historic Site. It was a beautiful day and besides a wonderful assortment of yarn/fiber there were sheep herding and sheep sheering demonstrations as well as some Civil War folk on hand to keep families entertained. My friend Jess came along too but since she hates having her picture taken a link to her blog will have to do.

Here are the "messy guys" (as Jorn calls himself and Greg) hanging out with the Hudson River in the background.





Jorn had his first taste of Brownie Batter and LOVED it. No surprise there! Just try and get that spoon away from him :-)













We also had a visit from Rosie and Sean just in time for Easter! Rosie, Jorn, and I had a great time coloring Easter Eggs and Jorn did a GREAT job finding all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid in the yard. Spring brings warmer weather and warmer weather means more visitors and that always makes us happy. I hope everyone is enjoying the blossoming and warmth and I will be sure to post more frequently. Till next time....

Happy Valentine's Day

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your day was filled with love and sweet things!

Train Show!

Yesterday was The Connors Clan 2nd Annual Family trip to the Big 2006 Railroad Hobby Show in Spiringfield, MA! Here is our little engineer all ready to check out the latest model trains all decked out in enginer pants and hat.

This is just one of three gigantic buildings filled with train hobbyists and their "set ups". These guys go to town. Each member of a "Railway Society" is responsible for a section of track that they must maintain. It is pretty impressive actually. Boys and their toys.

Besides the sophisticated set ups there were also battery powered Thomas trains...mini Islands of Sodor (the fictional island where talking trains dwell) and this was where Jorn found his people. There were little boys everywhere waiting quite patiently for their turn to watch Thomas zip around the track carrying freight. Jorn must have been here for a solid 15 minutes just watching the trains go round and round. He was truly in his glory.

Here's Dad and Jorn happily enjoying the day...


And Jorn and me toward the end of the day when it was difficult to get Jorn to willingly take a picture.

I'm holding his latest Thomas acquisition, "the Giggling Troublesome Trucks". It was like Christmas when we got home, Jorn played all night until he could barely keep his eyes open and then took his Troublesome Trucks to bed with him where I am sure he dreamed of engines, freight cars, and bridges all through the night....

A New Year and a New Look

It has been so long since I last updated our family blog and so much has happened. I felt like it was time to give this blog a facelift and lighten it up a little, hope you like the new look. First I want to start by wishing everyone a belated and Happy New Year! I hope that everyone's (the five of you out there who read this) holiday season was healthy and happy. Greg, Jorn, and I spent a week traveling the Tri-State area visiting friends and family. First stop was New Jersey to see the Nanas and Papas of Holiday City!

Here's Nana (Connors) opening her Red Hat piggy bank. Anyone who knows Nana knows her favorite past time is shopping till she drops so we thought a "Shopping Fund" container would come in handy not to mention that she is a card carrying member of the Red Hat Society.

Then it was Papa Joe's turn to open his gifts. See just to the left of Papa Joe...yeah the dancing singing Santa Claus and Frosty the snowman? Well, multiply those two guys by about 10 and you'll have the amount of motion activated Christmas singing critters in Nana and Papa's house. It has become a "tradition" for Greg to set them all off at the SAME TIME and let's just say that it can cause a severe case of sensory overload. Here's Greg suffering from the after effect.

We also spent time with Papa John and Grandma Audrey but somehow they managed to evade our camera. Now that I am looking for pictures for this post I really am surprised that we managed to leave there without a single picture :-( We had unseasonably warm weather so a bunch of us headed out to the Popcorn Zoo which was established for the sole purpose of providing a refuge for wildlife that are elderly, sick, abandoned, abused or injured, and which could no longer survive in the wild. Jorn and I got up close and personal with this Tiger. Papa Joe, Papa John, Grandma Audrey, Greg, Robin, and Brittany all had a great time too.

Next it was time to head off to the Big City for a visit with Grandma Julie and Jorns first trip to the Museum of Natural History. We spotted this billboard on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway! Of, course, we had to take a picture.

To get to the museum we had to use public transportation. Jorn had never been on a city bus or subway before. He was SO excited! Here we are on the "Big Bus". You could tell that Jorn was amazed he didn't have to sit in a car seat. Such a big boy!

After the bus came the TRAIN! Anyone who knows Jorn knows about his obsession with trains. This was such a big deal for him to ride on a subway. Greg and I took him on the LIRR when he was a baby but he doesn't remember that at all. As far as he was concerned this was his first time on a real train. He is still talking about it!


Check out Grandma Julie, Greg, and Jorn outside the big Museum of Natural History! My friend Aimee from High School gave Jorn a book called, "How to take your Grandma to the Museum" and Jorn and I read that book a whole bunch before our trip. He actually recognized the layout of the museum! The book really helped Jorn prepare for this massive intake of information so if you're reading this Aimee...Thanks!

After all the buses, trains, and dinosaurs it was time to take a nap! I struggle every day to get Jorn to rest his little head and here he is asleep on a wooden bench in the loudest, busiest enviornment that he's ever been in. I guess he has the same reaction to sensory overload as his dad!

After his nap it was time to head to my favorite section of the museum... the rocks and minerals! I think Jorn liked it a lot too since this is the actually the most child friendly area. He could touch the gigantic meteorite, run around on the ramps that bring you from section to section, and dwell in the atmospheric lighting. The colors are amazing, so are the textures. Being in these rooms again made me wish I had gone into geology but what could be better than sharing a kiss with my little guy? Our trip to the museum was great. We didn't get to see very much, it was a lot to take in and a lot of walking but I know we will return and explore some more.

When we left the museum it was just about time to meet my brother Pete for some dinner. He is at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan now so it was just a hop, skip and a jump over to his studio to see his latest work which was amazing. Really amazing. You can check it out on his website. We wound up in this shady Irish Pub where the food wasn't so great but the Guinness was cold and that was all that mattered to these guys (except for Jorn of course, though you'd doubt it from the picture)


After the Big City we headed to Brooklyn to visit the newlyweds, Jarret and Robyn, in Park Slope. We had a short but sweet visit (again no pictures :-( sorry) . Sadly we missed their wedding in October so we were really happy to see them. Little did we know that when we left Brooklyn we'd be heading into this storm.

It took us 8 hours to make a 2 hour trip going 20 miles an hour in second gear the whole way. Thankfully we made it home safely just in time to ring in the New Year.

Just how cute is Jorn?

Here he is in a just completed momma knit. He got to wear it alone all day because the weather has been so warm. I felt great because several people commented on the sweater as we were walking around town. What is cuter than an adorable boy in an earthy hand knit?

How about an adorable boy and his kitten, Trixie! They are both getting so big.

Or Jorn and his favorite train of the day are pretty cute too. He named the train "Pretend Oliver" :-)

Oh, but there they are again. Kittens and kids...you gotta love them!

Birthday Bonanza!

Happy birthday Jorn! our little guy is 3! What a week we've had filled with celebration and parties. First stop, NJ, to have a party at Papa John and Grandma Audrey's house.

When we asked Jorn this year what kind of cake he wanted, he immediately asked for a farm cake. So, this is what I came up with. Jorn's second cousin Caitlyn helped to place the animals. It was cute and delicious.


Now, I couldn't resist swiping Jorn's cute little nose with icing for a year filled with luck and happiness! You can see Nana ready to help cut the cake and that's the back of Caitlyn in the corner.

What's better than a chocolate farm cake? How about ANOTHER cake and ANOTHER party! After we got back from NJ, I decided to have another party for those who couldn't make it down to NJ. It was a lot of fun! This time we got a Ben and Jerry's ice cream cake with Jorn's favorite ice cream, Fossil Fuel, and my favorite ice cream, Phish Food.

Mothers and Sons dominated this party! We were so happy that Grandma Julie was able to make it up from Queens to celebrate and Uncle Julien came too!

Here's Hildi with her "baby" Benji. It is hard to believe children get so big so quickly!

It wasn't long before Jorn tore into the gifts. He got such beautiful things this year from everyone. But, I have to say his favorite by far was Cranky the Crane for his Thomas Train set.


Which he couldn't bear to part with even as he headed off to the land of Nod. Happy Birthday little bean! Here's to a year filled with magic, wonder, discovery....


and of course some goofy fun! We love you!

For my dear sweet cousin Christopher Garo Jamie who passed on November 7th, 2001.

You are always missed.

Rain Rain go Away

As you all know New England hasn't seen the sun in 14 days straight. On top of completely grey skies it has been cold and wet. Luckily, our basement has remained bone dry unlike many of our neighbors and fellow residents who had to run out and buy emergency sump pumps. We didn't get off scot free though. In fact we learned that 9 days of steady rain will turn our roof into a sieve. Not good.

Here is a picture of my "craft room" and no, we do not have plans to add a sky light. What you see here is a portion of sheetrock that had to be removed in order to see where the leak was originating. Thankfully my yarn was moved out of the way before the water started seeping through the ceiling.

Here is our kitchen ceiling. Greg actually had to drill a hole into the ceiling in order to provide drainage otherwise it would could have given in to the weight of the water that was building.

This is the hallway which was completely soaked all the way down the wall and the plaster has started to fall off. It is hard to tell from this picture but this is the largest area of damage.

Since all this bad weather and subsequent damage to our home has made me less than a happy camper, Greg decided to brighten my day with this beautiful bouquet of flowers! They really put a much needed smile on my face.


Good news is the insurance adjuster has already been here to assess the damage and thinks that our policy will cover the interior damage. Bad news is...it's supposed to keep raining. Better call a roofer.

Fall is Here

Fall is here in the Berkshires though I can't say the weather as been anything but out of the ordinary. We had a tremendous amount of rain which forced us to stay in all day on Saturday. And what better to do on a rainy October afternoon than to carve some pumpkins?! Here are the contenders...

A shot of Jorn hard at work. He colored his with markers and then decorated it with stickers! Clearly he is a multi media artist ;-)


Greg chose the carving route and found the whole experience "relaxing". Who knew pumpkin carving could be a form of meditation? I know I feel relaxed when an evil face slowly emerges from a huge vegetable...



And here are the results. Two sinister and spooky pumpkins to charm our front porch!

BONES!

No. Not the new TV show on Fox. But real bones in our backyard. You see when we bought the cabin there was an old trailer on the property that was boarded up but standing which was good enough for us. We figured that that is where we will store all the salvaged material we rescue from the old house . Little did we know that when we opened up the trailer we were in for quite a surprise. This is a shot of the trailer after Greg spent a lot of time and a great deal of energy cleaning it out.

But this is what he spent all that time and energy taking out...piles and piles of bones.... A LOT of bones. Big ones, some little ones, mostly all sawed into pieces. One small vertebrae. Some unrecognizable fragments. We're talking roughly 4-5 wheelbarrows full of bones, perhaps more. Now, we found this pretty creepy but it got even creepier...

These pieces you see here are have the diameter of a baseball. They are fairly large. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger)

You see when you buy and old house that needs a lot of fixing up you must also have tools. Yarn and books and toy trains...yeah we got a lot of that stuff...but tools...those we needed. So off we went to our local hardware store to get us some fixin tools. Well, you see, while I was way on the other side of our 2 acres maintaining hiking trails with Jorn, Greg was on the opposite end of the land cleaning the trailer. I went to clip some overgrown brush and all of a sudden my trimmer handle just fell off and at that very moment I heard Greg yell from the other side "Abi, you better come and take a look at this"...When I got there Greg was standing with the handle of his rake but the rake part had gone flying off at what must have been the same time mine did and disappeared into the woods. These were good quality, new tools. At that point Greg showed me a 3 foot high mound he had started raking in to which was literally a pile of bones. Talk about a "Do NOT Disturb" sign...

Here are our broken tools. We still can not find the rake head. Needless to say at this point we called it a day and left the mound undisturbed. We are intrigued though by this new mystery which will most likely just add up to the bones being the remnants of a farming lifestyle. Though that doesn't explain why someone would put bones in a trailer?! But people do strange things. Somehow interesting properties sort of gravitate toward us I think. In Cornwallville, NY (our old farmhouse) we decided one day to clean the old hay out of the barn which was at least a good foot deep. Armed with pitchforks and dustmasks Greg and I pulled the pickup truck up to the loft door and started forking all we could out into the trucks bed. It wasn't long before we realized that there wasn't just a foot of hay on the floor but rather 150 year old documents that belonged to the original owner of the house , the Reverend Scott Inglis, including personal letters, postcards, checks, bills, Christmas cards!! It was a historians dream. And there it had sat for all those years secretly secure under a bed of hay. So, you never know what you will find or why people do what they do but you sure won't get stories like that buying a prefab modular hunk of junk.

The day wasn't all strange discoveries though. It was actually quite fun and we are getting a lot of work done. Here is a picture of the boys after a long, hard days work, sitting on the edge of our newest adventure.

And the Award for Best Summer Oh-Fiddy's Best Rejection Letter by a Major Literary Agency goes to ...

... none other then the ga-giant William Morris Agency. Let's give them a small round of applesauce for their considerate pass on my novel. What happened to the box my 600+ page manuscript came in is a mystery, as it returned in a bubble wrap manilla envelope, but ... thats splitting hairs. Nice stationary you richie riches!

The other 35 or so rejections of the season never made it to the 'review manuscript' phase - but thats ok. Since they are all in the upper tier of agents, i'll let it slide. Though my ego would prefer a reaction more civil then the response you would likely get if you offered someone "haggis and mealie pudding with that?" - im still in full optimism mode.

I have a lot to be thankful for, i'm ramping up for my second novel and the wind of change is at my back.

"What do they win?" you may be asking yourself. Well, what do you get someone who 'literally' has everything.

Well my new DVD of course, where I sing all of the Perry Como and Lawrence Welk hits through a voice synthesizer - naked. Really, conganulations and thanks you guys!

GC

A New Addition

Say hello to a new member of the Connors Clan. Little baby Trixie! One of my co workers cats had babies and we have been waiting anxiously for our little girl to be ready to come home. Yesterday was her first full day at our house and despite leaving behind a few brothers and sisters she adjusting well to her new living situation.

Obie is another story. When we first got Trixie home he hissed and moaned. But now he seems to be tolerating her and allowing her to get in his space a bit more. He's not thrilled about it though.

As you can see from the expression on his face here. I think this pictures says everything about his current state of emotion.

But isn't she sweet? Her daddy is a Main Coon and you can see the little tufts of hair on the tips of her ears. Trixie is a real sweetie. Jorn is loving her already, in fact, I heard him saying her name in his sleep last night. I'm sure that didn't make his bed partner, Obie, too happy.

Center Road Cabin

It's offical! The Connors Clan are the proud owners of a cabin in the woods! We closed on August 23rd and promptly went over to open the padlock on our little piece of heaven. Pete and Dimitri were with us that day so they were there to experience the joy with us. Here's a shot of the Dimitri, Jorn, and I opening the door for the first time.

Located on the property along with the cabin is an old farmhouse that is falling to the ground. A property like this is not for everyone and we understand that but located within the old house are quite a bit of building materials that can be used for other projects we have planned in the future. Greg and I have already started dismantling the house and removing wood, windows, and other supplies in preparation for the houses inevitable demolition sometime before winter.

The old portion is quite big as you can see from this picture. It extends a ways from the cabin.

I have posted this picture before but it now functions as a "before" shot. In this picture (below) the pathway leading from the "front" door is just grass.


But I uncovered a slate floor underneath a collapsed portion of the house so now that pathway looks like this...

It extends up from the house toward the driveway and winds its way up into an eventual garden plot. Pictured below. Let me tell you those slate pieces were heavy! Greg and I are getting our hard work muscles back that have sort of disappeared since we owned our farmhouse in Cornwallville.

But, as we all know "all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy" so Jorn and I have adapted this sled we found to work on grass. There is a nice steep hill (you can't tell from the picture) and you can really get going! Who needs snow?

Finally, for this post, a gratuitous shot of one of our neighbors.

New Photo Album Feature

Hi everyone! I have added a photo album of our current work in progress or as we like to call it the "Center Road Cabin". If you click on the pictures down below in the sidebar it will take you to a virtual album. Let me know if the pictures load too slow by leaving a comment so I can change the format or something! Enjoy!

Hurricane Katrina

The victims of Hurricane Katrina are all on our minds. I urge you to take a moment now, like our family has, and donate what you can to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. If you designate the Relief Fund in your payment all of your donation will go towards helping those affected by this natural and humanitarian distaster. Please click on the button below and you will be directed to the Red Cross website where you can make an online secure donation or find the phone number so you can donate by phone.

More Visiting Fun!!

The morning that Pete and Dimitri left our good friends Rosie and Nadia arrived. The driveway was still warm! Rosie and I did a little catching up and then the kids were given the job of waking Greg up so we could start our day. Poor unsuspecting fella...there's nothing like an alarm clock made up of one 2 year old and one 4 year old!

Still asleep...he doesn't know what's going to hit him!

We've let the hounds loose!

But they soon settle down and gently urge Greg to get up because we all want to go to Lakeview Orchards and pick our first bushell of apples since last fall! It was a perfect day for some picking with a slight chill in the air and a divine Berkshire sky...

Here everyone lines up to take a ride on the apple train as we weave our way through the trees.

Jorn and Nadia on the hunt for apples that are just right...except they get distracted and start a game of "let's run into eachother at mach speed and see what happens". They were acting likes Rams!



Amazingly and thankfully no one was hurt and they did this about a dozen times! In the meantime I put together this Owl feather and Clover arrangement...

Ah sweet Prince Willliams (that's the variety of apple) we love you so...there is nothing like apples picked right from the tree with good company...

on a day like this...

But we sure did work up an appetite so what better to do than meet the Lubrano Clan (Rosie's family) for our annual excursion to Elizabeth's Italian Eatery. By far the BEST Italian food I have ever had cooked by a husband and wife team. The secret is that they put all their love for eachother into the food and it really makes a difference.



With full bellies we tried to get a group shot but it was hard to keep the kidlets still. This was the best we could do. From left to right are John (Rosie's dad), Rodolpho (family friend), Mickey (Rosie's sister), Jude (Rosie's mom), Rosie and Nadia, Greg and Jorn. Then back home we went to bathe the babies and get some rest for the next day and more adventures!

Family Fun Weekend

This weekend was packed with family fun! Here is just a snipet of the good times had.

Day One: First we headed off to the Peach Festival to meet Pete and Dimitri only we had to find our way there first! Jorn was in charge of the map!

Once we got there it was rides galore!

Jorn went on the Car-Go-Round twice! He LOVED it!

Then FINALLY a healthy outlet for Gregorio steam! We should each have one of these in our houses...it would make life much easier (for those who have to live with us)!

Here come the men in black...

Who desperately tried to find their way back to their home planet on this ride mistaking it for their mothership!

Day Two: Savoy State Forest/North Pond

We all packed a picnic and went to the lake. It was beautiful but the water was warmer than the air temp so the guys didn't last long swimming. But that's ok there were other things to do...

Like play ball...
Have races...
Take a quick swimming lesson with dad...

And look for snakes...(the snake turned out to be a piece of zuchinni wedged in a hole. Oh well.)

Then we packed it up and headed home to BBQ and roast some marshmallows.

It was a perfect Berkshire summer weekend with many more memories than could ever be pictured here.

Big Day, Big Boy, Big Bed

For whatever reason Saturday just felt like a good day to switch Jorn from his "cribby" to the twin bed we have had waiting for him to be ready. Quite spontaneously I lugged the twin bed into Jorn's room at which point Greg realized that he would have to take over dismantling the crib and carrying the heavy bed frame from the garage. (Thanks Hun!)

Our quest for "cool sheets" and safety rails began shortly after and lead us 1 hour away to Holyoke mall because Greg and I do not shop at Wal-Mart. We do our very best to support local businesses but after trying *every* place we could think of we threw in the towel and headed off to the big mall. (Still better than Wal-Mart which is the reason there are so few choices in Pittsfield). And here are the results!


One happy sleeper, his "cool" jungle sheets, and his makes momma happy safety rails!

This picture was taken the night before our trip for the sheets and rails. Jorn's first night in his big bed. He went to bed without a hitch, slept soundly, and stayed in the bed all night. When he woke up he promptly declared, "Oh, I like sleep now!".

Jorn is just the greatest!

Everyone knows that Jorn *LOVES* Thomas the Train and all the other trains in the set. Well Toby (pictured below) is the first train we bought him way back when over a year ago. The other morning Greg and Jorn were together in the kitchen busy with typical morning activites and Jorn brought THIS picture over to Greg and asked him to draw Toby's number on it!





Now I know that Jorn is my son and that I am biased in my opinions but I think that this is absoultely astonishing for a child 2 1/2 years old. Mind you that he had no help at all. The shape is his, the colors, etc. Greg didn't want to draw the "7" on the picture so he draw it to the side. This picture is on its way to be framed!

The Adams Fair

This weekend the Connors Clan high tailed it to the Adams Fair! It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. Here is a little photo album of our excursion. Enjoy!


Jorn with Smokey the Bear. He followed this guy around for quite some time before he realized there was a little one trying to get his attention. I was surprised that Jorn really wanted to be near him. He loved him, I know you can't tell from the photo but he really did!


Here's the obligatory photo of the country fair prize winning veggie basket. I LOVE country fairs. Yummy home grown veggies are a thing of wonder and beauty to me. Cudos to those who took home the prize!


Meanwhile Greg really bonded with this Chicken. Don't ask me why but they had a definate "connection".


While Greg was making nice with the chickens I was warming up to this guy...because all knitters know there's nothing like a man who keeps llamas. Llamas make this...



At $65 a skein this stuff is yummy like cashmere. But, unfortunately like cashmere, way out of my price range. (A really good wool is at most @ $11 a skein)


Though I had to walk away from the Llama yarn I did get to pet this Percheron. Percherons are one of my favorite breeds of horses and some day in the near future there will be one frolicking in my front yard...or a pasture which would probably make more sense. Wish I could have taken this guy home with me. He was a gentle giant. A real sweetie.



Greg and Jorn took a ride down the slide (thats them at the top, click on the picture to enlarge). One ticket bought you 3 runs down the slide but after the first time down I asked Jorn if I could go down with him and he said, "I did it once with daddy, that's enough."! Deep down it makes a mother happy when you know your child has a healthy fear of heights. He is a wise boy!

So there it is. A few snipets from our weekend at the fair.

Long Time No Post

Oh Boy. It has been a really long time since my last post. Things have been really busy over here in the beautiful Berkshires since my Celebrancy graduation. I owe a sincere apology to those of you out there (Papa Joe) who have become accustomed to regular updates. I'm back on track again and ready to blog! So here it goes. After graduating and coming back home we had just enough time to do some laundry before we high tailed it back to good 'ol Tom's River, NJ again for the not so annual but more like whenever we get around to it Gregorio Family Reunion. We did actually take a complete group shot but I didn't manage to get a copy so it will have to wait until one ends up my way. Until then here is a picture of my cousins Lisa (front) and Joanne (back) with their significant others and Joanne's son Larry. Don't worry, there were way more than 5 people there. We had a great time and I think it was the first year that I really remembered who everyone was!

While in NJ we decided to take a trip to Smithsville with Papa John, Papa Joe, and Nana. It was really fun. Greg has most of the pictures on his lap top but here's a cute one I took of Jorn's *first* caraousel ride! He did not want to go on any of the horses though he just wanted to sit. We had so much fun despite intense heat and 100% humidity. Smithsville is an interesting little place. It's a historic fishing village turned shopping center but it's filled with handmade wears and imports. It is not at all anything like the NJ most of us have pictured in our minds and well worth the trip if you find yourself in Atlantic City.


As soon as we got home we entered the final stages of the purchase of our second and most beautiful dwelling, this lovely cabin in Savoy, Ma. We are (almost) the proud owners of 1.85 acres located and grandfathered smack into the middle of Savoy state forest which means that around the cabin is 11,000 acres of preserved immaculate forest. While hiking around the other day Greg, Jorn, and I discovered a trail that runs from behind the cabin and brings you to an amazing waterfall. Yes, for the nature lovers out there, I said 11,000 acres and a waterfall. It needs some elbow grease and a bulldozer to remove the falling down old farmhouse still on the property but we're up to the challenge. So, grab your camping gear and a hammer and get up here people we have some work to do!



In the meantime while we were faxing and signing for the cabin my dearest friend in the world, Bruce, traveled out from Ohio to visit for a few days while on his way to officate a wedding for some friends of his in Northhampton, Ma. We had such a great visit which we always do. Unfortunately there were no pictures taken only memories made but that's just swell. While waiting for his train to come in (which it eventually did 2 1/2 hours late) I knit him up a hat which I have asked him to take a picture of and send back my way and once that gets here I'll be sure to post it for all to see.

The day after Bruce left (you getting all this) my friend, Aileen, from Simon's Rock College surprised us with a phone call and a visit. I hadn't seen Aileen since I was pregnant with Jorn so we had a lot of catching up to do and not quite enough time. (If you're reading this Aileen, I'll have to pay you a visit soon so we can continue the conversations we started.) It was *so great* to see her. She is a beauty and a sweetie and a knitter...what more could you ask for?



On top of all that I was asked by a local political/social organization (who shall remain nameless) to run for City Council representing Ward 1 in the grand 'ol city of Pittsfield, Ma. With some serious consideration I decided to declined the nomination as I don't feel now is quite the right time for me to run for public office. Perhaps sometime in the near future or maybe not. Who knows? One things for sure, things are always fun and unpredictable here, just the way I like it. So stay tuned...I'll be blogging regularly again.

Let's Celebrate Celebrancy!

It was a really hot day and the boathouse of Verona Park was packed to its maximum capacity with Celebrants-to-be and their families. The big crowd made it really difficult to take pictures and I don't know if Greg intentionally took this shot but as an offical Celebrant now part of my job is to infuse the lives of my clients and my own life with symbolisim and meaning. This photo is my favorite of the day because although it is by no means an award winning shot it is symbolic of the thresho